Summary
The California Immigration Legal Fellowship was an advocate-led proposal submitted to the California legislature in 2019, which asked California to invest in capacity building in organizations providing immigration legal services to the underserved regions of our state. The proposal included a pilot program that would train and mentor 10 legal fellows with assistance from established non-profits in the Bay Area, and place them in organizations serving rural communities in our state. To secure the seed funding for the proposal, advocates and organizers mobilized statewide grassroots support, and built solidarity from the Central Valley and the Central Coast to the Bay Area. The two year $4.7 million initiative was included in the 2019 budget, and the Fellowship formally launched in 2021.
Now, California has the opportunity to strengthen this investment in order to ensure that underserved immigrant communities receive the support they deserve, and have the infrastructure to act quickly if comprehensive immigration reform is passed. Advocates and legislators are coming together to ask the state to fund a $10 million dollar expansion of this Fellowship model to prioritize building capacity in the rural regions of our state and protect the future of our communities.
Even though California lawmakers have approved funding for immigration legal services in our state, the largest challenge has been developing organizational and training capacity to take advantage of these funds. There are simply not enough organizations that qualify to receive this funding for deportation defense in regions where the need is high, but resources are low. This proposal calls for a targeted investment to ensure a more equitable distribution of legal services funding that aligns with local needs. The requested $10 million would cover the third year of the current program which would enable host organizations to meet the 3 year requirement in Welfare and Institutions Code Section 13304, thereby making them eligible to apply directly for legal services funding from the state of California’s existing pool of funding. In addition, the proposed funding would enable the expansion of the fellowship to a second cohort of 10 new recent law graduates and new organizations to represent underserved communities and regions for a three year period.
The investment in the Fellowship leverages the legal expertise of established legal service providers to support a cohort of new attorneys who will be placed with organizations in the most underserved regions of our state, with ongoing mentorship and technical assistance. This partnership ensures sustainability and structure to address the collective needs of a region, and also 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.
Background
The California Immigration Legal Fellowship is the first state sponsored legal fellowship program to expand access to counsel in the most underserved rural regions of the state. The most significant challenge for immigrants in removal proceedings is the fact that they are not guaranteed an attorney, even though the stakes in immigration court can be just as high as in criminal proceedings. Therefore, an investment in providing legal services support to these regions is critical in ensuring that families have access to justice and the resources to remain together.
California has historically faced severe challenges in developing immigration legal services, and particularly removal defense services in rural regions. This includes regions like the Central Valley and Central Coast. 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 handful were qualified to provide representation in deportation proceedings.
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. 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. That is why the Fellowship has proven to be a successful and sustainable model.
Program Highlights
The Fellowship program provides legal fellows the opportunity to be trained and mentored by the premier immigrants rights organizations in the state, while being housed in rural communities with the highest unmet need for services. The program was designed to provide recent law school graduates the opportunity to be hosted in organizations located in rural regions, while still enjoying the benefits of being trained by established removal defense organizations. Many of the Fellows from the class of 2021 were able to return to the regions they call home to give back to their communities, while knowing that they would receive the support and mentorship they needed to provide quality representation in one of the most complex and high stakes areas of law.
This first of its kind Fellowship is based on established models for legal training and professional development. The Fellowship program also allows the Fellows to support one another as they start their legal career, using a cohort mentorship model to share insight, experiences and knowledge.
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Legal Fellows Receive Training in:
- Immigration law, including the complex area of deportation defense
- Immigration court practice and procedure
- Cultural competency and racial equity
- Community engagement
Through the Fellowship, the host organizations receive much needed legal capacity, with a community focus, allowing them a solid foundation to hire future legal staff. In addition to the provision of legal services to immigrant families, host organizations receive important training and coaching opportunities around fundraising, legal program management, and staff sustainability. The investment has also contributed to workforce development in underserved regions. The first cohort of fellows, spanning organizations from the Central Coast through the Central Valley, includes immigrants, individuals who grew up in the region they are serving, and, in most cases, the first attorney in their family.
Proposed Expansion*
Based on the successful launch of Fellowship in 2021, there is now an opportunity to expand and strengthen this model for rural and underserved communities. That is why advocates, legislators and the community have put forth a proposal to take this investment to the next level. An expansion of the Fellowship can include:
- 10 New Fellows – An additional class of Fellows can be brought on board in 2022, starting their term while the Class of 2022 finishes theirs, providing for synergy between the two classes and a pooling of resources. This new cohort would be funded for a 3-year program that provides them with significant practice experience and their host organizations with a more-established legal program model.
- Strategic Regional Expansion – Using the proven mentorship model provided by the Fellowship, the program can be expanded to new regions that remain underserved and lack organizational capacity.
- Funding for Year Three – Organizations that took on Fellows in 2021 will be provided the funding to complete year three of the Fellowship. At year 3, host organizations will have reached the requisite legal experience required by Welfare and Institutions Code Section 13304, thereby making them eligible to apply directly for legal services funding from the state of California. They will also have a robust program that can attract philanthropic support.
- Statewide Impact – By developing capacity in rural regions, the Fellowship will ease the load on all legal service providers in the state, and allow for a sustainable growth model where emerging organizations can build sustainable private and public fundraising streams.
Additional Information
Cal ChangeLawyers – The California Immigration Legal Fellowship
2019 and 2020 Advocacy Materials for the Fellowship
