Amica Center for Immigrant Rights

This is the final week to apply for Amica Center’s Spring internships. The deadline is this Friday, October 31st.    We invite all interns to apply to our scholarship program. Amica Center will distribute four $1,000 scholarships to eligible interns for educational and professional development.    Apply at https://lnkd.in/eXhSi_X5 

Everyone deserves access to due process and legal representation. At Amica Center, we work every day to make that a reality for immigrant children and adults facing detention and deportation.    In this video, former clients share why free legal representation was so crucial for them and their families.     Amica Center fights for the rights, safety, and unity of immigrant communities, standing with those trapped in our nation’s fundamentally flawed immigration system.  

This #ProBonoAppreciationMonth, we’re celebrating the accomplishments of Amica Center’s Pro Bono partners.     So far this year, our pro bono partners have taken on over 70 cases to support immigrant children and adults! They have worked with clients on seeking asylum and other protection-based forms of deportation relief, requesting release from detention, obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for children, securing work permits for their clients, and so much more.     Immigrants in detention do not have the right to court-appointed counsel and most cannot afford a lawyer. This is why our pro bono partners are crucial in making sure people get free legal representation when they need it most.     Thank you to our pro bono partners who do incredible work with and for immigrant children and adults every day!

Each year, thousands of immigrants face detention and deportation alone without the right to a public defender or without the ability to afford a lawyer. This is where Amica Center comes in.     Through our Legal Orientation Program (LOP), we step up for people fighting their immigration cases alone by offering legal information, intakes, brief legal advice, and pro bono counsel to people in detention.  

A new federal report shows that ICE does not maintain a “safe and secure environment” for people in detention. Read the recent article in the @washingtonpost: https://bit.ly/48b0ESQ As Amelia Dagen, staff attorney at Amica Center, recently said, "It is insufficient to perform inspections and write reports – ICE detention should not exist at all. Until that goal is realized, though, every person subjected to ICE detention should have access to legal representation, regardless of their ability to afford one."

Every year, Amica Center works alongside hundreds of immigrants to navigate the immigration system safely and effectively as we work towards lasting and meaningful immigration change. Read some of the stories of people we’ve worked with to offer a glimpse into our work: https://lnkd.in/dFAd3M4r

Read Amica Center’s annual report on ICE’s alternatives to detention statistics: https://bit.ly/4eAv4Az In our work providing legal services to thousands of immigrants facing detention and removal, Amica Center has seen the serious harm caused by ATD programs. ICE’s ATD programs are not really “alternatives to detention” but are instead alternative FORMS of detention. Actual alternatives to detention would be community-based case management programs, which help ensure access to legal counsel and social services that, in turn, help migrants successfully navigate their immigration processes.

Interested in volunteering to help defend immigrants facing detention or deportation? Check out one of Amica Center’s in-person or remote volunteer opportunities!    Interpret important conversations between attorneys and clients; organize a supply drive within your community to collect essentials like school supplies, clothes, backpacks, and toiletries; answer hotline calls from someone who is detained by ICE; or attend a jail visit with our legal orientation team.     Get started today: https://lnkd.in/ez2S2Tky  

We’re excited to be a supporter of Immigration Film Festival 2024! Get tickets and festival passes: https://lnkd.in/emMPRNMk Hosted by KAMA DC, #ImFilmFest2024 will feature films from around the world centering stories of immigrants and refugees. The in-person festival will take place from October 17 - 20 at four venues across downtown DC, with virtual on-demand screenings available from October 17 - 27. From a sci-fi tale of indigenous climate migrants to a mixed-medium documentary of creative young refugees, experience diverse and engaging stories of immigration!

Click the link to read the recent article by Erkki Forster in the Washington Blade about Edafe Okporo, author and activist, who spoke at Amica Center's 25th-anniversary celebration last week: https://bit.ly/OkporoAC