We see a future Chicago where the thousands of people recently arriving from Latin America are safe, supported, and enriching the city as thriving members of our schools, workforce, and communities.

We are a grassroots legal aid clinic that began in 2023 when local attorney Maureen Graves began offering free legal support to residents of local migrant shelters, working with a handful of volunteers to help complete asylum applications, file for work permits, and secure housing and access to basic services. Our work grew quickly out of necessity, responding to the massive gap in basic legal support services for recent arrivals. Rapid expansion of ICE enforcement operations caused widespread panic among recently arrived migrants and brought unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers into our office. We sometimes see up to 25 applicants a day. A network of over 100 volunteers and a small number of paid staff make our work possible.

Our work sits at the nexus of many important issues: civil rights, housing justice, food and healthcare access, worker’s rights, and more. NUMS is meeting the moment through mutual aid, transportation support, educational opportunities, and community connections. Our services provide a critical supplement to existing services that have been drastically overstretched by the volume of need. Through word of mouth referrals, we have now provided some form of legal assistance or consultation to more than 2,700 people and directly filed applications for more than 500 asylum seekers.