Legal Representation
People facing deportation can have a lot to lose. Many have lived here for years, some as legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens, and their families live here. More recent arrivals may fear returning to a country so dangerous they felt forced to flee. With all that’s at stake, the process of deciding their fate should be fair.
Our work with the federal government and with partner agencies across the country to reach immigrants in detention and educate them about the court process aims to make them better advocates for themselves and speed the process, sparing them prolonged confinement. Other programs provide pro bono legal representation to unaccompanied children and people with a mental illness.
Related Work
Reimagine Justice
Vera Institute Eleventh Annual Gala
On Thursday, April 20, 2017, justice reform leaders and supporters joined the Vera Institute of Justice for Vera’s 11th Annual Gala, Reimagine Justice. Honorees discussed approaches to criminal justice reform and the future of the movement in a very different federal climate. Samuel David Flores Murillo, a client of Vera’s recently expanded New Yo...
Reimagine Justice
Vera Institute Eleventh Annual Gala
Reimagine Justice
The Fight of Our Lives
With law and order rhetoric coming from our nation's capitol, we're in the fight of our lives to keep the promise of criminal justice reform alive and strong. From working to keep immigrant families together, to reforming a bail system that criminalizes poverty, to ending the use of solitary confinement and reimagining justice with human dignity a...
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
New York Immigrant Family Unity Project lays groundwork for constitutional victory
A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit established that an immigrant is constitutionally entitled to a bond hearing within six months of being detained and must be released on bond unless the government provides compelling evidence that he or she is a flight risk or danger to the community. This important dec...
Blog Post
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Bettina Rodriguez Schlegel
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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Michael Corradini
Finding Free or Low-Cost Legal Help
Vera’s Unaccompanied Children Program has prepared a directory of legal service organizations that provide free or low-cost immigration legal assistance and representation for non-detained children in immigration proceedings. The directory, which is organized alphabetically by state, includes the types of legal assistance provided by each organizat...
Unaccompanied Children Pro Bono Directory
This resource contains a list of legal service organizations that provide free or low-cost immigration legal assistance and representation for non-detained children in immigration proceedings. This list is comprised of mostly non-Vera affiliated organizations, but also includes those Vera/DCS Legal Access Project subcontractors who may be able to a...
Law enforcement use of the U-visa
In this podcast, Rodolfo Estrada, senior program associate of Vera's Center on Immigration and Justice, discusses law enforcement use of the U-visa. The U-visa provides immigration status to undocumented victims of crime who cooperate with law enforcement. Joining Rodolfo are Edna Yang, legal counsel at American Gateways and consultant with Legal M...
Universal Representation for Immigrants Facing Deportation
Vera seeks to ensure that no detained immigrant will face deportation without legal representation through our work on the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), our participation in the California Coalition for Universal Representation (CCUR), and our efforts to replicate locally-funded counsel programs nationwide. To keep families toge...
Project
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Oren Root
A historic step in access to justice for immigrants facing deportation
In New York City, where more than one-third of residents are foreign-born, approximately 1,800 people per year are detained and sent to county jails without the ability to pay for an attorney as they face deportation in immigration courts in New York and New Jersey. This includes asylum-seekers, lawful permanent residents, and those with American c...
Blog Post
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Amy Connors
The U.S. Department of Justice Issues National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape
Last Thursday, nearly nine years after Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued the first set of binding national standards to address sexual abuse in U.S. confinement settings. The promulgation of the standards coincides with the publication of an important new Bureau of Justice St...
Blog Post
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Allison Hastings