Policing and Immigrants
In the majority of U.S. states over last decade the number of foreign-born residents increased by 30 percent or more, with many of these new arrivals settling in suburban areas once virtually untouched by immigration. Local police agencies are challenged to serve sometimes-vulnerable residents whose culture and language don’t match that of their line officers. Meeting obligations related to homeland security adds yet another layer of complexity.
To address these challenges, we pioneered the growing field of language access and led the way in building bridges between police and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities. We’ve also trained police in using the U-visa, a safety net for immigrant crime victims that cooperate with police, and published guidebooks written by police for police in how to build trusting relationships with diverse communities.
Related Work
People in Jail and Prison in 2020
Vera Institute of Justice researchers collected data on the number of people in local jails and state and federal prisons at both midyear and fall 2020 to provide timely information on how incarceration is changing in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers estimated the national jail population using a sample of 1,558 jail juri ...
Examining Organizational Change and Procedural Justice
An International Cross-Site Evaluation of Two Police Departments
The origins and ongoing practices of policing continue to have implications for public trust and perceptions of police legitimacy. Researchers and practitioners have attempted to apply theories of procedural and organizational justice to this issue. Organizational justice is the notion that how employees view their employers will affect the way pe ...
The Cost of Incarceration in New York State
How Counties Outside New York City Can Reduce Jail Spending and Invest in Communities
Jail populations have fallen significantly across New York State, and crime has dropped as well. But spending on jails continues to climb. In 2019, the 57 counties outside New York City collectively spent more than $1.3 billion to staff and run their jails. Counties must cut jail spending and reinvest those savings in communities most impacted by ...
It’s Time to Provide Government-Funded Lawyers to All Immigrants Facing Deportation
Blog Post
Lucila Figueroa
Nina Siulc
Building the Movement Summary
Advancing Universal Representation: A Toolkit for Advocates, Organizers, Legal Service Providers, and Policymakers
The movement for universal representation—the idea that every immigrant facing detention and deportation should have the right to a publicly funded lawyer if they cannot afford one—continues to gain significant momentum. As a result of local and state campaigns, more than 40 jurisdictions across the country now fund deportation defense programs. Wi ...
What the Capitol Riots Mean for the Future of Our Democracy
Watching these rioters rampaging through the Capitol Rotunda with impunity, flaunting symbols of slavery and white supremacy, enraged those of us who have encountered police while trying to peacefully exercise freedom of expression on behalf of the oppressed. As an immigrant rights activist, I have personally participated in many actions at the Cap ...
Blog Post
Kica Matos
People Need Relief from Court Fines and Fees—Even Beyond the Current Recession
Vera’s new research briefs show that in Florida and New York, the typical cost of fines and fees on a misdemeanor charge can easily surpass a month’s pay for someone making minimum wage. Yet these revenues are relatively modest to the governments that collect them, typically accounting for 1 percent or less of city and county budgets. We know that ...
Blog Post
Chris Mai
Ending Pretextual Stops is an Important Step toward Racial Justice
That’s why Vera, in partnership with criminal legal system experts around the country, launched Motion for Justice—a platform with guidance for prosecutors and the communities they serve to reduce racial disparities. Although tackling individual bias is important to eliminating disparities, Motion for Justice instead addresses the flawed systems in ...
Blog Post
Jamila Hodge
Akhi Johnson
Annual Report 2020
Reckoning with Justice
The High Price of Using Justice Fines and Fees to Fund Government
Fines and fees imposed by state, county, and municipal justice systems place an enormous financial burden on the people who are charged and pay them—disproportionately Black and brown people and people with low incomes. People who cannot pay risk a spiraling set of consequences—such as losing their driver’s licenses—and ultimately owing even more m ...
Vera Calls on President-Elect Biden to Prioritize Immigration and Criminal Justice Policies in First 100 Days
Vera’s justice platform—and those of other justice-oriented nonprofit organizations like the Brennan Center for Justice—do just that. The Biden-Harris team has already identified several policy areas that align with these platforms, including improving oversight and accountability measures in policing, reducing the incarcerated population, and prov ...
Blog Post
Hayne Yoon
Elle Teshima