Immigration and Justice
Vera's Center on Immigration and Justice (CIJ) works with government, nonprofit partners, and communities to improve government systems that affect immigrants’ lives. CIJ focuses on two objectives: increasing immigrants’ access to legal services, and improving relationships between immigrant communities and law enforcement. The center administers legal services programs, develops and implements pilot programs, provides technical assistance, and conducts evaluation and empirical research.
Featured
Translating Justice
The Translating Justice Initiative aims to enhance access to the justice system for those who experience communication and cultural barriers. This initiative focuses on developing and providing resources, nationwide training, and support to victim service providers, law enforcement agencies, legal service providers, and courts to increase language ...
Project
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Susan Shah
Police Perspectives Guidebook Series
Building Trust in a Diverse Nation
According to the 2010 Census, 37% of the U.S. population reported their race and ethnicity as something other than “non-Hispanic White alone.” The numbers of people of color have increased by almost 30% between 2000 and 2010, and by 2060, they will make up nearly 60% of the country. Our country is diversifying rapidly and, despite their best effort...
National Qualified Representative Program
Providing legal representation for immigrants with mental health disorders.
The National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP) provides appointed legal representation for immigrants who are detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), unrepresented by counsel, and who have been found by an Immigration Judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to be incompetent to represent themselves in their immigration ...
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Gregory Pleasants
Related Work
Operation Streamline
No Evidence that Criminal Prosecution Deters Migration
The mass criminal prosecution and incarceration of people entering the country without authorization along the Southwest border has been acclaimed as a success in deterring others from making the same journey. Analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice and Dr. Jonathan Kringen of the University of New Haven, however, shows that there is no evidence ...
Immigration Technical Assistance Center
Evaluation of the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project
Assessing the Impact of Legal Representation on Family and Community Unity
This study evaluates the impact of the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP). NYIFUP is the nation’s first public defender system for immigrants facing deportation—defined as those in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Funded by the New York City Council since July 2014, the program provides a free attorney to almost all de...
SAFE Cities Network
Local Leaders Keeping Communities Strong and Safe
In the face of stepped-up immigration enforcement, millions of non-citizens—many of them taxpaying lawful permanent residents—are at risk of extended detention and permanent separation from their families and communities. Expanding legal representation for immigrants facing detention and deportation has thus become a crucial last line of defense fo...
Project
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Annie Chen
Immigration Court Helpdesk
The Immigration Court Helpdesk (ICH) program educates non-detained immigrants in removal (deportation) proceedings about the court process. The goal of ICH is to help individuals make informed decisions about their legal cases and, in doing so, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of immigration court proceedings. Vera works with five nonprofit...
Project
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Marina Caeiro
Police and Communities Must Work Together to Support Victims of Hate Crimes
After the 2016 presidential election, unusually large numbers of children and adults all over the United States have reacted by expressing hate, bigotry, and racism, contrary to our best principles of equality. Hate crime has been unleashed—with swastikas painted in playgrounds and schoolyards, attacks on Muslim school girls and cries of “build the...
Blog Post
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Laura Simich
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Jacob Kang-Brown
Improving Responses to Hate Crime
Validating a Bias-Crime Victim Assessment Tool
Vera is studying experiences of hate crime (also known as bias crime) among Latino, immigrant, youth, and LGBT communities in New Jersey and Los Angeles County, California. We aim to develop a practical tool to help communities and law enforcement improve responses to hate crime, with the ultimate goal of ensuring access to equal justice for people...
Project
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Laura Simich
CompStat360
At a time when communities are seeking ways to play an active role in the co-production of public safety—and police departments are eager to engage the communities they serve—it is essential that our management of policing resources, priorities, and responses evolves to incorporate a wider set of metrics beyond serious crime incidents. By leveragin...
Project
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Rebecca Neusteter
For illustrative purposes only.
Evaluation of justice AmeriCorps Legal Services for Unaccompanied Children Program
The number of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving in the U.S. has grown exponentially in recent years. Most are escaping conflict and gang violence in their home countries. After arrival, they are scheduled for immigration hearings, but often face the court without legal representation. This program uses the AmeriCorps service model to provi...
Project
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Laura Simich
The role of police in suburban immigrant integration
In 2012, the majority of the country’s metropolitan regions saw faster growth in suburbs than in cities. By 2014, it was estimated that more than half the U.S. population lives in suburbs. This incredible growth of suburban America has led to tectonic demographic shifts in these communities, which are struggling to keep up with the influx of immigr...
Blog Post
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Caitlin Gokey
LOP Legal Materials - Indigenous Languages
This section includes various Legal Orientation Program fact sheets describing a range of topics of interest to detained immigrants.
LOP Legal Materials - Urdu
This section includes various Legal Orientation Program fact sheets describing a range of topics of interest to detained immigrants.