FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: media@vera.org 

WASHINGTON, DC – Without public announcement, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has gutted its program to provide legal assistance to low-income immigrants, according to exclusive reporting by CBS News. For over 60 years, the Recognition and Accreditation (R&A) program has provided accreditation to legal service organizations to support the legal representation needs of individuals and families in their communities. Filling a critical gap created by the immigration court system’s lack of a public defender system, the program has accredited more than 2,600 representatives across more than 900 programs nationwide. This move comes as Congress continues to negotiate funding and commonsense oversight for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Shayna Kessler, director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice: “While our communities continue to call on the federal government to rein in DHS’s violence and lawlessness, the administration abruptly guts a successful, longstanding DOJ program that supports access to due process and representation for people swept into its detention and deportation machine. Instead of reckless policy changes and doubling down on constitutional attacks and cruelty, we need investments in due process. The administration must reverse course and restore staff to this agency. Congress must act by passing the SHIELD and Fairness to Freedom Acts as long-term solutions to the due process crisis in our immigration courts.” 

Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans: “Our membership of immigrant and refugee-serving organizations follows in the longstanding tradition of providing support and legal services to immigrants through the DOJ's Recognition and Accreditation program. It has been instrumental in filling the gap and addressing the overwhelming need for legal assistance, especially as the Trump administration continues to grow its mass deportation dragnet. Gutting this program will bring devastating consequences to families, immigrant-serving organizations, the workforce, and our economy, as people will lose legal representation and their fighting chance to remain rooted in their communities. Along with maintaining the R&A program, it is past time for the federal government to invest in due process and pass the Fairness to Freedom and SHIELD Acts—real solutions that uphold the promises of the U.S. Constitution and give everyone facing deportation a last line of defense.”

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Fairness to Freedom: The Campaign for Universal Representation was launched by the National Partnership for New Americans and the Vera Institute of Justice in April 2022 with a coalition of more than 200 organizations and legal service providers. The campaign’s goal is to support the passage of the Fairness to Freedom Act to establish a federal right to representation for all immigrants facing deportation.