Media ContactLisa Ramirez, Communications Director, lramirez@mylegalaid.org
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid is urging clients, and anyone who relies on heat assistance, to apply for help through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), even though the government shutdown is delaying energy assistance.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Attorneys Michelle Gonzalez, Allison Griffith and Danielle Hendrickson spoke to the Star Tribune about the unprecedented caseloads they face amid a surge in immigration arrests — leaving many immigrants without legal representation, accelerating deportations and deepening confusion in an already complex system.
STATEMENT (Minneapolis, Minn): As the Department of Human Services seeks reforms to the Housing Stabilization Supports program, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid offers these comments.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Attorney Gary Van Winkle took the lead in successfully challenging a 1995 precedent at the Minnesota Supreme Court. Van Winkle and Managing Housing Attorney Julia Zwak explain how this secures eviction protections for renters with housing subsidies.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid celebrates the ruling from the state’s highest court, in favor of our client, as a win for renters of subsidized housing everywhere in Minnesota.
Legal Aid Litigation Director Luke Grundman joined fellow legal experts in sounding the alarm about the high court’s recent decision. “This is something that every one of us should care about. It is not just about immigration enforcement. It is about basic freedoms being eroded.”
Vast, complex and never easy is the work undertaken by our Legal Services Advocacy Project. In 2024, LSAP Attorneys Jessica Webster, Ellen Smart, Andrew Knox III, led by Supervising Attorney Ron Elwood, set sights on modernizing laws to further economic justice. Notable examples include:
Minnesota Lawyer spoke with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Attorney Sumbal Mahmud, recipient of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s 2025 President’s Award. Cited for her “unwavering presence” in service to the profession, Mahmud has spent more than two decades advancing human rights and equity through pro bono and volunteer work.
Read our editorial in the Star Tribune to understand the devastating impact cuts to Legal Services Corporation would have on thousands of Minnesotans.
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