PRESS RELEASE

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Media Contact:
Eric L. Steckel,
Communications Manager
510-768-3147

esteckel@cceb.org

Catholic Charities of the East Bay

Expands Immigration Legal Services
Largest East Bay provider of immigration legal services responds to
increased demand for services
OAKLAND, Calif. April 2, 2015 Catholic Charities of the East Bay, a social services agency
serving Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, has experienced a significant increase in demand
for its legal immigration services since the November announcement of President Obamas
executive action on immigration. To better serve the needs of the immigrant community, they
are leading regional collaborative efforts, have hired key new staff, expanded service offerings
and are now able to serve clients on an appointment basis.
Catholic Charities has expanded its legal immigration services team by filling several key
new positions. Anita Mukherji, an immigration attorney, joined the agency after working at the
UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic. There she represented unaccompanied minors from Central
America and Mexico and has extensive background filing U Nonimmigrant Visa applications
and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications. In addition, they hired Alma
Sanchez, as the new legal assistant. Ms. Sanchez will provide critical support services to the
attorneys and board of immigration appeals (BIA) accredited representatives, assist with the
preparation of immigration application packets, help applicants during clinic days, and provide
translation of documents.
Anita and Alma join us at a very critical time where not only are we are seeing record
numbers of people seeking our services, but we are expanding our services to serve
unaccompanied children in their fight to stay in this country, said Christopher Martinez, director
of legal services at Catholic Charities. In addition, Catholic Charities is actively looking to fill
several other positions as well.
To provide better and more efficient services, Catholic Charities is now capable of
maintaining an appointment-based model for their legal immigration clinics. With the expanded
staff and support, we are now able to make all of our consultations by appointment to meet a

growing need, explained Mr. Martinez. This will be more efficient and provide better clientservice.
Catholic Charities has also developed the Helping Our Neighbor initiative. The monthly
workshops will be conducted in partnerships with parishes throughout the Diocese of Oakland
and are designed to connect clergy, church staff and parishioners with the immigrant community
in their neighborhoods. With 65,000 East Bay immigrants affected by the new executive order,
we are reaching out to the hundreds of thousands of Catholics in our pews to help us with our
work, explained Mr. Martinez. This initiative is about neighbors helping neighbors.
The Catholic Church is the largest provider of social services throughout Alameda and
Contra Costa Counties. Catholic Charities, founded in 1935, is the visible face of the diocese in
that work, and is a BIA recognized organization with licensed attorneys and BIA-accredited
representatives on staff.
About Catholic Charities of the East Bay: Catholic Charities of the East Bay (CCEB) is a
social services agency headquartered in Oakland, California. In the last fiscal year, Catholic
Charities served over 8,000 clients in three primary programs: "Fostering Self-Sufficiency"
provides services designed to strengthen families and increase income to livable wages.
"Welcoming the Stranger" offers legal immigration, refugee relocation and refugee employment
services. "Healing Trauma" delivers immediate and sustained support to victims of crime,
especially those impacted by community, domestic, and family violence, as well as mental
health treatment to students and adolescents experiencing multiple, ongoing incidences of
trauma. For more information, visit www.cceb.org.
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Media Contact:

Eric L. Steckel, Communications Manager Office: 510-768-3147

Mobile: 415-713-2220 E-mail: esteckel@cceb.org