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Spokane organization opens new legal clinic to help Latinos

A woman and child wait for an appointment at the Poder Legal Clinic, operated by Latinos en Spokane.
Photo by Monica Carrillo-Casas
A woman and child wait for an appointment at the new Poder Legal Clinic, operated by Latinos en Spokane.

Latinos en Spokane created a capital campaign in 2023 to develop a legal clinic to help low-income people. They produced a film named “The Immigrant Resident” to raise money and within a year, they had enough to open and operate the free clinic they named Poder Legal.

The clinic targets Latinos who need free-to-low-cost direct services in legal aid, immigration and public notary. however it is open to everyone.

The clinic hired Zaida Rivera as their primary immigration attorney.

“There's such a huge need in eastern Washington because it's a legal desert — and so I think that's why Poder Legal is going to be such an influential organization to serve our community and provide education as well,” she said.

Rivera is an immigrant herself. She is passionate about justice initiatives and says she is proud to be part of a team that is providing legal services.

The clinic also hired a paralegal and an immigration caseworker. It holds legal and immigration sessions twice a month at their Latinos en Spokane office.

Rivera says her team has seen families coming as far as Walla Walla and Omak. She expects the business to continue to grow as word spreads.

Monica Carrillo-Casas is a Murrow Fellowship reporter through the WSU College of Communications. Her work is overseen by editors at the Spokesman-Review and Spokane Public Radio.

Monica Carrillo-Casas joined SPR in July 2024 as a rural reporter through the WSU College of Communication’s Murrow Fellows program. Monica focuses on rural issues in northeast Washington for both the Spokesman-Review and SPR.

Before joining SPR’s news team, Monica Carrillo-Casas was the Hispanic life and affairs reporter at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho. Carrillo-Casas interned and worked as a part-time reporter at the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, through Voces Internship of Idaho, where she covered the University of Idaho tragic quadruple homicide. She was also one of 16 students chosen for the 2023 POLITICO Journalism Institute — a selective 10-day program for undergraduate and graduate students that offers training and workshops to sharpen reporting skills.