2019/2020 Fellowship Materials

SF Chronicle Op-ed in support of the Fellowship by Sen. Melissa Hurtado

Fellowship Advocacy Packet & Materials 

Assembly Budget Hearing – April 3rd 2019

Senate Budget Hearings – April 11th 2019

Background

The California Immigrant Justice Fellowship will create the first state sponsored legal fellowship program to expand access to counsel in the most underserved rural regions of the state. The program will develop the removal defense capacity of legal service providers and increase the number of qualified immigration attorneys to defend California’s residents against deportation and family separation.

A 2017 mapping initiative found that of the 400 non profits providing immigration services in the state, only 28 were located in the San Joaquin Valley and of those only a handfulwere qualified to provide representation in deportation proceedings. This dearth of removal defense services plagues rural communities across the state from the Central Coast to the Inland Empire. California has a backlog of nearly 150,000 immigration cases in court, with some individuals waiting more than three years before their hearings are scheduled. The number of deportation cases in California has increased 48% since 2017,and will likely continue to rise as a reflection of the demographic realities of the state. Because deportation is a civil proceeding, immigrants have no right to government-appointed counsel, despite the fact that highly trained attorneys represent the government in proceedings to remove them from the United States. Given the highly complex nature of immigration law, it is nearly impossible for individuals to represent themselves before the court. This lack of due process is particularly egregious given that deportation most often results in family separation, or in the worst cases, torture or death.

The lack of legal support and infrastructure in these regions reinforces the belief that ICE can violate due process with impunity. The solution to this justice gap is the development of community-based legal infrastructure that is accessible for residents and sustainable in the long term. In recognition of this need, California lawmakers have approved nearly $50million in funding for legal services in our state, but the largest challenge has been developing organizational and training capacity for removal defense to take advantage of these funds. We simply do not have enough organizations that qualify to receive this funding for deportation defense, particularly in regions where the need is high, but resources are low.

The challenge of capacity building, mentorship and technical assistance cannot be shouldered by one single organization. Therefore, a collaborative structure is the most sustainable and structured approach to begin to address the challenges outlined above. This partnership also solves the significant challenges facing service providers. Bay Area-based organizations are able to coordinate remote detention visits and rural assistance through organizations based in the regions of need, while fledgling removal defense programs obtain the technical assistance and mentorship they need to grow and serve their community. This partnership ensures sustainability and structure to address the collective needs of our region, and allows a continuum of services to be established between organizations located near courts, organizations located near detention facilities and organizations removed from both but whose communities are suffering from unfettered immigration enforcement.

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