Alumnus Fernando Andrade ’17 is on a mission to help immigrants by working as a paralegal with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income New Yorkers, regardless of their status. As the son of immigrants from Mexico, Andrade knows firsthand the hardships his clients have faced. “Growing up, I would ask my parents questions, wanting to know how they got here and what they went through. My parents came to this country in search of jobs, walking from their hometowns in Mexico to the U.S. border. They wanted to work and support themselves, and their plans were to go back to Mexico, but they had me and my siblings, establishing roots here,” says Andrade, who grew up in Flushing, Queens, New York. “Working as a paralegal in the Immigrant Protection Unit at NYLAG, each client’s story is so similar to that of my parents. At the core of each immigrant story is the desire to seek a better life for their families and to live with dignity. My goal is to give back to the immigrant community by providing them with the legal services information they need to know their rights.” 

Finding His Path at John Jay
Transferring to John Jay via the CUNY Justice Academy Program, Andrade hoped to major in Criminal Justice and eventually become a police officer. But a Latin American and Latinx Studies (LLS) course opened his eyes to the injustices faced by Latinx communities in America, putting him on the path toward advocating for others. “It was a course on Latino struggles for civil rights by Professor François Restrepo that inspired me to change my plans, major in Latin American and Latinx Studies, and advocate for the disenfranchised. He taught us about the Young Lords and how they stood up and advocated for services and rights of the Latino community,” recalls Andrade, who was also part of the SEEK Program and John Jay’s Student Council. “It was in my Latin American and Latinx Studies classes that I learned the real history of Latinos in this country. I grew up thinking I was a ‘gringo,’ that I was seen by the world as just an American man, but that’s not the way the world sees me. I am a Mexican-American. What I realized at John Jay was that between grades K through 12 the history I learned was whitewashed. People who came before me—people who looked like me—fought so that I could have rights, so that I could go to school with others from different races and backgrounds. John Jay taught me what standing up for others can do, it can change the world for the better.”

Becoming a Fierce Advocate
Before coming to John Jay, Andrade admits, he had a very specific way of thinking about justice. “I had this idea that justice only meant ‘law and order,’ but being at the College made me realize it’s so much more. We can fight for justice in so many ways, at so many different fronts. John Jay opened my eyes to what fighting for justice looks like. It’s speaking up when you see an injustice. It’s fighting for dignity, opportunity and fairness for all,” says Andrade, elaborating on how he embraced the notion further during an experiential learning opportunity. As part of the requirements for his LLS major, he took an internship course where he applied what he was learning in the classroom in a real world setting. “Through the internship course I had the opportunity to intern at Make the Road New York, an organization that helps working class and immigrant New Yorkers get access to quality education, health care, housing and justice,” says Andrade. While at Make the Road New York, he helped clients get housing, assisting them with their application process and conducting mock interviews. He also found himself referring clients to an external agency time and time again, that agency was NYLAG. “It was through that process of referring people to NYLAG that I learned more about the agency’s mission and I knew it was the perfect place for me to work and help immigrants following my graduating John Jay.”

Helping Immigrants Become Citizens
Working with NYLAG for the last three years has been everything Andrade had hoped for and more. “Not only did it align with my major, but it centered on helping and interacting with a community I care so deeply about,” says Andrade. In 2020, NYLAG served 38,200 immigrants, defending and representing them during legal proceedings, working with clients to secure green cards and citizenship, ensuring access to health care and public benefits, and providing free clinics and Know Your Rights workshops. As a paralegal in NYLAG’s Immigrant Protection Unit, Andrade works directly with immigrant communities in the City’s five boroughs, and manages a caseload of clients, performing confidential intakes, providing legal advice, and helping them fill out applications and obtain the requisite documents to put them on a path to citizenship. “It’s very special for me to work at NYLAG and help people become citizens. For so many of my clients, all they want to do is be able to provide for their families, and they’re so grateful when they become citizens,” he says. Thinking back on his own parents’ experience, of walking to the border, coming to New York, and working non-stop to provide for him and his siblings, Andrade feels a great sense of pride in them and in the work he’s doing to help others like them. “Everything I am, I owe to my parents. It was their bravery and their hope for the future that brought them to this country and gave me the chance to live this blessed life I live,” he says. “My hope is that my work at NYLAG helps pay it forward. Immigrants face so many injustices and have so many anxieties. I want them to know that there are people in this City who really care for them. There are people who are working to right those wrongs and who are speaking up and standing up for them. There are people who are fighting for them.”