Advancing Universal Representation

In the United States, while criminals are entitled to government-funded representation under the law, immigrants facing deportation are not. According to the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera), the daily population of detained immigrants rose from 9,000 to around 51,000 from 1996 to 2018. Those detainees without legal representation are far more likely to be deported than those with representation. In “Advancing Universal Representation: A Toolkit for Advocates, Organizers, Legal Service Providers, and Policymakers,” Vera draws on the experiences and examples of local, state and national initiatives from its Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network, as well as from the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Immigrant Law Center, to suggest strategies for implementing, sustaining and scaling universal representation programs. Consisting of three parts, the toolkit’s first module makes the case for universal representation; the second module outlines the process of building an advocacy campaign to achieve such representation; and the third module proposes practices to implement local and statewide programs. Ultimately, Vera asserts that providing publicly funded universal representation supports immigrant communities and protects essential American values of due process and fairness. (Flora Meng for The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)