COMMUNITY DEFENSE WORKSHOP
One of the major issues in New Mexico (and across the U.S.) is that people have to face immigration court proceedings without the help of a lawyer. This is for a lot of reasons: a) the courts are not required to provide a lawyer for a non-citizen’s defense in removal proceedings (even when they are a child!); b) lawyers can often be prohibitively expensive; and c) there simply aren’t enough lawyers trained in removal defense in our region. People are constantly instructed to get a lawyer! But what if getting a lawyer can’t be the solution to the problem because one is impossible to obtain?
Together with Las Cumbres Community Services and two dozen local volunteers, we are piloting a community defense workshop to provide comprehensive legal services to individuals and families facing removal proceedings without the help of an attorney. It starts with a referral from a community based organization and is followed by a consult with an immigration attorney. Together we decide what the next best step is and tap into volunteers and community resources to make sure people are making informed decision and doing the most they possibly can to defend themselves. Sure, there is some lawyering involved, but we are trying to create a new model that doesn’t depend exclusively on a one-to-one attorney/client relationship and instead seeks to build power and knowledge and agency in our entire community of citizens and non-citizens alike.
If you are interested in volunteering: please reach out via my contact form. At the moment I am putting volunteers on the waitlist while we build the pilot with a dozen or so volunteers and building out services
If someone in the community needs a referral for consultation:
Please get as much information as possible and make sure the following things are true:
1) This person or a family member has an active removal case in immigration court (whether detained or non-detained)
2) This person does not have an attorney working on their case
3) This person lives in Santa Fe County, New Mexico
Please respect these boundaries! Remember that asking for exceptions or making referrals outside of these parameters creates work for us to manage cases we are not funded to serve and ultimately detracts from the project. Thank you!
If you have someone you believe qualifies for services, use the referral button below and we will take it from there. All referrals are strictly confidential.