Launched in 2017, the Safety & Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network was created to counter the urgent injustices that people facing detention and deportation experience because they do not have the right to a public defender to ensure that they receive a fair trial.
SAFE is a unique collaboration among governments, immigration legal service providers, and advocates working together to build and implement publicly funded universal representation programs at the local and state levels.
These programs are grounded in a vision of universal representation: the belief that every person facing deportation should be entitled to high-quality legal representation regardless of income, race, national origin, prior history with the criminal legal system, or the nature of their defense. Vera supports the launch, growth, and sustainability of these programs through a range of resources and technical assistance.
SAFE utilizes a four-pronged approach for expanding justice and fairness for immigrant communities:
Since its launch, SAFE has demonstrated the power and influence of local leadership with sustainable, successful programs that have continued to expand over time. This success has cascaded to the state and regional levels, inspiring similar programs with increasingly broad reach. SAFE’s goal is to leverage this local and state leadership to drive federal change, establishing a federal right to representation through the Fairness to Freedom campaign.
Because representation alone is not enough to mitigate the systemic issues and structural racism pervasive throughout the detention and deportation system, Vera is working alongside partners to end immigration detention, end the criminalization of immigrants, and shrink the pipeline between the criminal legal and immigration systems.
SAFE builds and advances a coordinated movement of local and state deportation defense programs that advance meaningful and effective policies promoting dignity, safety, and due process for immigrants and our communities. This map depicts the SAFE Networks programs nationwide fighting for universal representation at the state and local level.
Our membership is expanding to better harness the momentum and collective expertise of the more than 55 local and state jurisdictions that fund deportation defense. SAFE supports the growth and expansion of strong, sustainable, and values-driven programs through technical assistance and programming, research and data empowerment, and advocacy support. In our work and through our partnerships, we strive to advance and embody our team's values of equity & inclusion, transformation, community, accountability, and solidarity.
Fairness to Freedom Campaign
The Vera Institute of Justice and the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) have launched a campaign to push for legislation that establishes a universal right to federally funded legal representation for anyone facing deportation.
