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
Express Injustice
Expedited Immigration Hearings Pose Danger to Detained Children’s Right to a Fair Process
Series: Covid-19
Without an attorney, I might still be confined in a detention facility with COVID-19
It could have been very bad for me when people started to get sick with coronavirus, but I had good lawyers to fight for me. When they told me I would get out, I was very nervous. I was shaking because I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was excited, but my body was shaking. Sometimes I can’t even believe that I am out, after 21 months. It fee ...
How Local Leaders Can Ensure Immigrant Justice During COVID-19 Guidance Brief
Our immigration system is on the threshold of a new crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. People in detention face high risks of infection from the close quarters of facilities, shelters, and courtrooms, and they lack adequate sanitation, health care, and protective measures. The frequent transfer of people throughout the immigration detent ...
Webinar: Critical Initiatives By Local Governments to Support Immigrant Communities During the COVID-19 Crisis
While local governments across the country are facing precarious economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and harsh federal immigration policies continue, local leaders are providing bold leadership to stand up for immigrants in our communities. This webinar highlights how government leaders partnering with Vera are supporting their immigrant co ...
Series: Covid-19
Communities Need State and Local Deportation Defense Programs Now More Than Ever
Presently, the vast majority of people in immigration detention—70 percent—have no legal representation. This is because people facing deportation do not have the right to a public defender if they cannot afford one. And without legal representation, they face slim chances of being released from custody and remaining in the United States. With near ...
Blog Post
Melissa Garlick
Support Universal Representation: SAFE Network 101
The SAFE Network is a growing movement of communities convened by the Vera Institute of Justice that are dedicated to publicly funded, universal representation for immigrants facing detention and deportation. Universal representation advances a public defender system for people facing deportation, one in which every person facing deportation is rep ...
Facing Deportation: My Story About the Promise of Having a Lawyer in Immigration Court
My story is proof that programs like the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) matter, because people like me need legal representation when fighting deportation. Though I was born in Jamaica, the United States has been my home for most of my life. I arrived in the United States 30 years ago as a teenager with a green card. I came to thi ...
Announcing New Grants for Community Groups Working Toward Universal Representation for Immigrants
Vera’s Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network last week announced an inaugural request for proposals for community-based organizations in SAFE jurisdictions to further elevate and increase capacity for such grassroots organizing and advocacy for universal representation programs. Immigrants remain under unprecedented attacks by our federal ...
Blog Post
Melissa Garlick
Series: Target 2020
The Shocking Lack of Due Process for Immigrants
Not only is a lack of representation inhumane for immigrants, it also contributes to backlogs in immigration courts—where more than one million cases are pending nationwide. For Mariana and so many others, expanding legal representation for those facing detention and deportation has become a critical last line of defense for our immigrant communiti ...
Blog Post
Krystin Roehl
Logan Schmidt
Due Process for All
Evidence from Year 2 of the SAFE Network
The SAFE (Safety and Fairness for Everyone) Network has grown to a total of 18 jurisdictions in 11 states. Network members have committed public taxpayer dollars toward legal representation for immigrants in their communities facing deportation. During its first two years, the SAFE Network has represented 744 clients with deep roots in the United S ...
Everyone Means Everyone
Supporting universal representation for immigrants facing deportation
(Para Español: Haga clic aquí.) In immigration court, there is no legal right to a public defender for an immigrant who can’t afford a lawyer, even though deportation often threatens one’s life and freedom. That’s why now more than ever, communities across America support universal representation—a public defender system for immigrants facing depor ...
Todos quiere decir todos
Apoyando la representación universal para inmigrantes que enfrentan la deportación.
(For English, click here.) En la corte de inmigración, no existe el derecho legal a un defensor público para un inmigrante quien no tenga dinero suficiente para contratar un abogado, aunque en muchos casos la deportación pone la libertad y la vida de une en riesgo. Por eso, ahora más que nunca, comunidades a través de los Estados Unidos apoyan lo q ...