The US immigration system is broken…

Picture with text at the top reading, “Without Representation.” Underneath the text is a pie graph that is 90 percent filled with orange and 10 percent filled blue. Inside the circle there is a blue box next to the word approved and an orange box ne…

When an immigrant does not have legal representation, US immigration courts deny 90% of cases

It isn’t an accident. The system is set up this way.

Picture of a blue circle reading, “1M Pending Cases About 1/2 are asylum cases”

“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”

- Warsan Shire, Writer, Poet, Editor, and Teacher

Throughout the immigration process, immigrants face…

Complex legal procedures and policies make it nearly impossible for someone to navigate the system on their own

Picture of a golden metallic statue of Lady Justice holding scales with a grey background

Language barriers resulting in confusion, miscommunication, late applications, missed appointments, and fear

Picture of a building at night completely blacked out except for giant red neon lights which read, “All we have is words. All we have is worlds.”

Transportation barriers, such as having cases sent to immigration courts hours away and no easy way for immigrants to get to their appointments

Picture of a bus with purple seats and red handles. The front of the picture is slightly blurred and there’s a person sitting on one of the chairs with their back faced to the photographer

Financial barriers preventing immigrants from working without being penalized while they have to wait sometimes years before their application is heard

Picture of yogurt tightly packed together on three shelves with price tags hanging from the shelves in what appears to be grocery store

And this runs deeper than just the legal system.

In our schools, information about children is shared with ICE, resulting in constant fear and families being torn apart

Picture of the back of someone wearing a uniform with white letters on the back reading, “Police ICE.”

In our communities, immigrants are forced to bear the brunt of economic recessions, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, without access to relief benefits

Picture of a white sign made out of paper reading, “Thank You,” with multicolored hearts sticking out of the side of the road a car drives by off into the distance. The sign is similar to other ones seen during COVID-19 as a thank you to first respo…

On our streets, where the ever expanding use of surveillance technology has been used to track people with black and brown skin

Picture of a yellow-grey wall with a painted security camera on the wall with letters painted underneath reading, "For your safety and our curiosity"

And in our work, where far too often multilingualism is undervalued and services are rarely provided in any language other than English

Picture of about 17 flags of countries on flag poles waving in the wind with a blue sky backdrop

But, there’s hope…

Picture of an orange circle with white text in the middle reading, “5x”

With representation, asylum seekers are 5x more likely to win their cases

Picture of a wooden gavel pointed upwards with a dark background

Picture of someone holding up a cardboard sign reading, “We demand justice + change”

Legal representation provides a pathway for asylum seekers to tell their stories

With an understanding of the immigration system, legal representatives can balance the scales of justice and advocate for accountability, transparency, and justice.

And there have been victories achieved by immigrant-led, grassroots organizing

From DACA to moratoriums on surveillance technology to bans on schools sharing information on children with ICE, there have been and will continue to be successes resulting from organizing. Many other organizations have led this fight and we’re prepared to support them.

How do we address this broken system?

We develop collaborative partnerships with colleges and universities to train undergraduate students to provide free legal representation to asylum seekers and to organize for immigrant justice. With every student we train, we’re building towards a future without xenophobia and where no one must face the immigration process alone.

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