Center on Immigration & Justice

The Center’s work includes:

Legal Information and Services for Detained Non-Citizens
Many detained non-citizens facing deportation have to represent themselves in immigration court because they do not have a right to government-funded legal assistance. This means immigration judges must use court time to inform detained persons of their rights, slowing down immigration proceedings. Lack of counsel also often prolongs the periods immigrants are detained. The Legal Orientation Program and the Unaccompanied Children Program, conducted in partnership with government and a nationwide network of legal services subcontractors, provide legal information and services for detained adults and children, and in turn, make immigration courts more efficient.

Policing in Immigrant Communities
Law enforcement agencies must gain the trust and confidence of all communities they serve. Differing cultural norms and fear of police, however, can make cooperation difficult. For example, crime victims who do not speak English well or who are afraid of reporting crime because of their immigration status may not cooperate with law enforcement. Two CIJ projects, Translating Justice and the National Immigrant Victims Access to Justice Partnership, work with government, community members, and law enforcement to help police restore, cultivate, and maintain partnerships with immigrant communities. In addition, the projects identify and disseminate information about promising practices and practical strategies for overcoming language barriers and collaborating with immigrant communities. 

Vera’s Commitment to Justice for Immigrants
Vera created the Center on Immigration and Justice to address the challenges presented by the convergence of the criminal justice and immigration systems. In the late 1990s, Vera designed, operated, and evaluated the Appearance Assistance Program (AAP) in partnership with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The AAP sought both to reduce the government’s use of detention and to ensure that people placed in this alternative to detention complied with the immigration court and deportation processes. Program participants achieved high levels of compliance with their immigration court obligations (91 percent) at a sharply lower cost to the government than detention.

For more information about Vera’s Center on Immigration and Justice, contact center coordinator Jessica Pulitzer.