In line with Vera’s mission to promote dignity and due process for people facing deportation, Vera was the primary contractor for the National Qualified Representative Program program funded by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review. Vera proudly worked in partnership with EOIR and legal service providers across the country to provide critical legal access and information services to people facing detention and deportation. Vera ended our role as the primary contractor of that program in 2022. It is currently being managed by the Acacia Center of Justice.

To learn more about this work, please visit acaciajustice.org

The National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP) provides appointed legal representation for immigrants who are detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), unrepresented by counsel, and who have been found by an Immigration Judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to be incompetent to represent themselves in their immigration proceedings because of a serious mental disorder.

Immigrants represented under the NQRP are people with serious mental or developmental disabilities and have often suffered persecution and torture in their home countries because of their mental disabilities. The NQRP affords a meaningful opportunity to be heard by shifting the burden of representation from the immigrants themselves to highly-qualified attorneys and BIA Accredited Representatives to help ensure fair and efficient removal proceedings.