FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2024

CHICAGO — Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois), together with representatives from America’s Voice, Vera Institute of Justice, National Partnership for New Americans, and National Immigrant Justice Center held a press briefing (recording available here) on the current status of deportation legal defense, with a focus on Illinois. The call participants outlined their vision of “a better project for 2025” that defends American communities from the devastating impacts of mass deportation and provides immigration solutions that ensure due process and keep families together.

Said Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL), “When my colleagues champion policies to gut legal representations for immigrants, they are gutting the opportunities for the American Dream for my community. I know that a lot of people are feeling fear and hopelessness. What do we do? We fight back. We need to create an agenda for 2025 that’s based on hope, based on solutions, based on human policy. I will do everything in my power for every family that’s living in fear of family separation because of our broken immigration system. I have an obligation to leave a more hopeful system and fight like hell to pass the SHIELD Act.”

Said Shayna Kessler, Advancing Universal Representation initiative director, Vera Institute of Justice, “Legal service providers across the country are at capacity, unable to support people at risk of deportation who are struggling to defend their rights, remain with their families, and build safe and stable lives. To secure the safety of our communities, we must resource and build up legal infrastructure locally. The SHIELD Act (H.R. 8980), cosponsored by Rep. Delia Ramirez, will do just that, by providing federal funding for states to support training and recruitment of legal service providers working on deportation defense. We ultimately need comprehensive reform, including pathways to citizenship, to update our outdated immigration system. We can build towards that goal right now with practical legislation like the SHIELD Act, and its companion bill, the Fairness to Freedom Act (H.R. 2697). The threat is real, but our champions and our movement have never been stronger."

Said Nicole Melaku, National Partnership for New Americans executive director, “Mass deportation – and the threat it poses to family unity, the economy, and our communities' stability – has been top of mind to the American public. And with nearly 4 million people now facing deportation in immigration court, our communities cannot afford to be without defense or affirmative solutions moving forward. This election season, we propose ‘a better project for 2025’ that creates a humane and repaired immigration system that defends against deportation, provides workable pathways to citizenship, ensures fairness in immigration court, protects access to asylum, and helps American communities thrive.”

Said Diana Rashid, Managing Attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center, “Immigrants without an attorney face insurmountable challenges. We encounter individuals who cannot read or write and therefore cannot fill out necessary forms. Others speak languages for which the immigration court cannot find certified interpreters. Many asylum seekers are struggling with severe mental health challenges such as anxiety and PTSD due to the trauma they suffered in their country of origin. Detained immigrants have families in our communities that are suffering too. Having an attorney can make a critical difference. Legal representation provides immigrants not only the legal expertise necessary, but also the dignity and due process to ensure just outcomes.”

Said Zachary Mueller, Sr. Research Director, America’s Voice, “The promise of Project 2025 is a mass deportation agenda that would create a show-me-your-papers force to separate American families, deport Dreamers, and wreck the economy for working people. But the vast majority of Americans want to hear a balanced, solutions-oriented both // and approach that speaks to BOTH the need for addressing challenges at the border AND creating legal pathways for our neighbors who have been locked out of the system. Rather than championing plans to round up hardworking parents and long-standing community members, we expect our policymakers to champion solutions that protect people from deportation and promote their well-being and stability.”

Across the country, 69 percent of the nearly 3.7 million people in immigration court facing deportation lack legal representation. In Illinois, 75 percent of the 250,000 people in deportation proceedings are without an attorney. Some fear-based policy agendas promise an unprecedented number of deportations and family separations, but this does not reflect the desires of the American public. Communities across the country have built up resources to ensure due process and protect their communities, and polling shows that people want immigration solutions that provide pathways to citizenship and keep families together – casting a vision of a much better project for 2025.

PRESS CONTACT: Melissa Stek, melissa@masadc.com | 616-550-8039

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Fairness to Freedom: The Campaign for Universal Representation was launched by the Vera Institute of Justice and the National Partnership for New Americans in April 2022 with a coalition of over 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.