IDA is sponsoring legislation by Senator Caballero that would place the California Immigrant Justice Fellowship into statute—making it a permanent, ongoing program that builds long-term immigration legal services capacity in California’s most underserved regions.
The Fellowship model was developed by advocates and first proposed to the Legislature in 2019 to address a persistent justice gap: immigrants in removal proceedings are not guaranteed counsel, and rural regions of California often lack enough qualified nonprofit legal providers to meet community need. The state made an initial investment through a two-year $4.7 million initiative included in the 2019 budget, and the Fellowship formally launched in 2021. The program was expanded in 2022 to include a second cohort of fellows.
The program trains and mentors early-career attorneys through partnership with experienced nonprofit mentor organizations and places Fellows with host organizations serving rural and underserved communities—building durable, community-based legal infrastructure where resources are scarce and the need is high.
Even as California has invested in immigration legal services statewide, the largest barrier has remained organizational capacity: in many high-need regions, there are still too few organizations with the staffing, training structures, and eligible experience to absorb available state funds for deportation defense and related services. Codifying and strengthening the Fellowship is a practical, proven way to expand the pipeline of trained immigration attorneys, support host organizations’ long-term sustainability, and ensure California can respond quickly to changing federal enforcement priorities and any future immigration reform.
Bill info: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1194
