Defending Vulnerable Populations Program

CLINIC launched the Defending Vulnerable Populations Program in response to growing anti-immigrant sentiment and policy measures that hurt immigrants. Changes in federal policies since January 2017 have targeted millions of immigrants for deportation by ending or limiting avenues to a legal status; separating children from their asylum-seeking parents at the border; barring people from certain majority-Muslim countries; slashing the number of refugees admitted to the United States; forcing asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while they apply for protection; eroding due process in immigration court proceedings and much more.

The DVP Program has the following objectives:

• Engage in strategic impact litigation that furthers the interests of our nationwide non-profit network
  • CLINIC’s Litigation Program Scores Victories for Immigrants
• Increase the number of competent and zealous non-profit, fully accredited representatives and attorneys available to represent immigrants in immigration court and on appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals, or BIA, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals
  • Partial to Full Accredited Representative Initiative 2020
  • DVP Resources on Removal Proceedings
  • Partnership with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA)
• Increase representation for detained immigrants appealing to the BIA and the U.S. Courts of Appeals through the BIA Pro Bono Project
   
• Establish innovative remote legal representation and mentorship models to increase pro and low bono legal representation capacity
  • Mississippi Raid Remote Bond Project Debrief: Lessons Learned and Improving Responses
  • Denied a Day in Court: The Government’s Use of In Absentia Removal Orders Against Families Seeking Asylum
  • Multi-Faceted Response to the Family Separation Crisis
• Seek transparency through Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests
  • Lawsuit challenges government’s failure to provide reunited families with their documents
  • CLINIC Obtains FOIA Disclosures on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Policies After Bringing Lawsuit, CLINIC v. USCIS
  • FOIA Disclosures on In Absentia Removal Numbers Based on Legal Representation
• Advocate on behalf of vulnerable populations through comments on proposed regulations, amici briefings, reports and media.
  • CLINIC Submits Comments in Opposition to Proposed EOIR Fee Rule, Urges the Justice Department to Rescind
  • CLINIC and Other Faith-Based Organizations File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court DACA Case
  • ICE is holding $204 million in bond money, and some immigrants might never get it back (Washington Post)