Amica Center for Immigrant Rights

You can make a difference this fall. Apply now for Amica Center’s fall internships.

Deadline is next Friday, July 26th.

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://amicacenter.org/join-the-fight/careers-internships/

As conditions in ICE detention continue to deteriorate, ICE is trying to open new jails across the country.

Amica Center joined 221 organizations in demanding that the administration halt ICE’s immigration detention expansion efforts, restore free phone access to people in detention, and protect the basic rights of people in the agency’s custody.

Read the letter at https://bit.ly/lettertoICE

Amica Center and 28 other immigrants’ rights organizations have submitted a petition to DHS and DOJ calling for more oversight of ICE’s “Alternative to Detention” (ATD) programs.

ATD programs allow ICE to surveil noncitizens as they move through their removal proceedings through technology such ankle monitors and GPS monitoring devices.

These programs often severely restrict a person’s body and movements and act as alternative forms of detention, not alternatives to detention.

ATD programs need increased immigration judge oversight to provide people with basic due process protections.

Learn more about the need for oversight of these programs at https://amicacenter.org/press-releases/calls-for-oversight-of-ices-surveillance-programs/

When the Southern Poverty Law Center laid off more than 70 of its workers and shut down its Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative last month, the immigrant rights movement in the Southeast was dealt a severe blow.

Amica Center Executive Director Michael Lukens makes the case for why funders need to invest in rebuilding the region’s legal services infrastructure to ensure immigrants aren’t left to fend for themselves in the latest op-ed for Prism.

Read it here https://prismreports.org/2024/07/15/deep-south-immigration-attorney-crisis-splc-layoffs/

Are you a student who is passionate about defending immigrants’ rights and looking to make a difference this fall? Apply for an internship with Amica Center!

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 by Friday, July 26th at https://amicacenter.org/join-the-fight/careers-internships/

Last week, the Executive Office for Immigration Review announced the launch of the Respondent Access Portal, an online platform that allows people unrepresented by legal counsel to access their immigration court records. However, the new system does not include immigrants held in detention. Read more at: https://bit.ly/eoirDARK

Through the new system, tech-savvy people who are not subject to detention and who have email addresses will receive more improved access to their records. But, those who are detained and all those facing mental health, cognitive, language, and technology literacy challenges will continue to need the help of legal counsel to navigate the complex immigration court system.

Amica Center will continue to fight for people who are pro se and detained to be able to access their legal records so everyone can have their due process rights protected.

Due process is an essential cornerstone of our legal system to ensure all people are treated fairly and respectfully in court. However, there is a troubling trend nationwide where some immigration judges are issuing deportations decisions without analyzing the facts of a person’s case.

This means that an immigrant neighbor who has built their home and life in the United States could be deported and ripped away from their family and friends without the judge even analyzing their specific situation or explaining their decision.

Amica Center has released new resources for immigration attorneys and advocates for dealing with these conveyor belt decisions. We will continue fighting for a more humane and just immigration system that affords everyone due process, protects all people seeking safety, and keeps communities together.

Learn more at https://amicacenter.org/news/deportation-without-due-process/

Listen to this recent podcast by Voz de América featuring a former client from Amica Center.

La migración forzada de un padre salvadoreño En este episodio de La Mochila conoceremos la historia de Mauricio Barrera, un padre salvadoreño que se vio obligado por la violencia a abandonar su país e intentar hacer una nueva vida en EEUU para salvaguardar su vida y la de su familia. Conozca su historia.

At Amica Center (formerly CAIR Coalition), we believe that no one should be jailed for their immigration status.

Detention is dehumanizing and separates families and communities during one of the most challenging times of their lives.

But as long as detention exists, everyone who is detained should have access to a lawyer, regardless of their ability to afford one. Amica Center is committed to making all efforts possible to expand access to counsel for our immigrant neighbors who are detained.

Read our full statement at https://amicacenter.org/in-support-of-the-end-of-detention/

As you celebrate the 4th of July, remember that “freedom” is not available to everyone in our country.

The United States has the largest immigration detention system in the world, detaining more than 38,000 immigrants across the country.

People in immigration detention do not have the right to a public defender, are often denied access to their due process rights, and are separated from their families and communities.

Having a lawyer makes all the difference, which is why Amica Center is committed to making all efforts possible to expand access to counsel to our immigrant neighbors who are detained.

Do you know people who will be watching Thursday’s presidential debate and may take the anti-immigrant sentiments at face value? Amica Center created a fact-checking guide for immigrants’ rights supporters ahead of the first debate of the 2024 presidential election.

Take five minutes to empower yourself with the facts and information needed to counter harmful narratives and spark hopeful conversations about what is possible. Read the full fact-checking guide below.

A Fact-Checking Guide for Immigrants’ Rights Supporters This Thursday evening is the first debate for the 2024 presidential election. Do you know people in your family, friend groups, community, or network who will likely take the anti-immigrant statements…

No one should have to go through the unjust immigration system alone and without access to the resources and support they need.

Free phone calls are a lifeline for people who are isolated in immigration detention—often far away from family, community, and support systems including legal and mental health resources.

But at the beginning of June, immigrants detained in facilities nationwide lost access to free phone calls when ICE announced they were ending their phone access program.

As an Amica Center client recently said, “Taking away free phone calls is unjust because it exacerbates the inequalities among us and leaves us even more alone."

Removing free phone call access in favor of charging people to call their loved ones at exorbitant, often inaccessible rates, benefiting the private prison industry, is an injustice inflicted upon people by an already oppressive system.

Learn more at https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/releases/2024/loss-free-phone-access-critical-lifeline-detention-triggers-hunger-strikes

Today, Amica Center celebrates Juneteenth!

Many believe that the Emancipation Proclamation speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 marked the end of slavery in America. In reality, the proclamation didn’t result in freedom from chattel slavery for many enslaved people.

It was not until two years later, in 1865, that the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas. On June 19th, 1865, 250,000 enslaved people attained freedom from chattel slavery in Texas, marking the significance of June 19th, which was shortened to Juneteenth through celebration.

Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the ongoing need for advocacy and activism in the pursuit of social justice. The movement for Black liberation continues and involves us all.

-----------------------

Special thanks to Amica Center’s DEIB committee for compiling and writing this information.

After 25 years of client-driven legal advocacy, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition starts a new chapter. CAIR Coalition is now officially the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (“Amica Center” for short).

While our name has changed, our values have not. We continue to fight for the rights, safety, and unity of immigrant communities, standing with those trapped in our nation’s fundamentally flawed immigration system.

Learn more about our new name at www.amicacenter.org

Today, as we celebrate , we acknowledge the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( ) program.

Today, there are more than 500,000 DACA recipients – they are our family, friends, coworkers, partners, and our community.

Amica Center is proud to keep working, living, and fighting alongside DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants.

Source: https://www.fwd.us/news/daca-anniversary/

On June 9th, Amica Center Senior Attorney Caroline Barrow participated in a panel held in conjunction with the DC premiere of the play, “The Elephant in the Room” by Priyanka Shetty.

During the panel, Caroline discussed the challenges immigrants face in detention and in immigration court.

The panel was moderated by Andrea Cali, formerly with the Board of Immigration Appeals, and other panelists included Dr. Kochai Jawed, Robert Fellow at Children’s National at DC, Priyanka Shetty, playwright and performer, and Kenn Speicher, Board member at One Journey and co-founder of NOVA Friends of Refugees

“The Elephant in the Room” is a play about an Indian metalhead and software-engineer-turned-actor who must navigate life as an immigrant arriving in Trump’s America.

You can see “The Elephant in the Room” at the Keegan Theatre in Dupont Circle from now until June 23rd.

On Tuesday, June 11th, Amica Center (formerly CAIR Coalition) responded via a public comment to the government’s deeply troubling, proposed rule on fear screening procedures. The proposed rule equates seeking asylum with criminality and reverts to Trumpian tactics to expedite deportations.

Amica Center fiercely opposes this and urges the government to reject the failed, unjust policies in the proposed rule.

The Department of Homeland Security should instead allocate its resources to ensure access to counsel, language access, and other due process protections that improve the efficiency of the asylum system without sacrificing public safety, national security, or the rights of asylum seekers.

Read our full public comment at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q-MIik7md0D6B6W0m5Kn_QsrxWg_iGBT/view

On June 7th, Amica Center (formerly known as CAIR Coalition) received the 2024 Pro Bono Program Maryland Pro Bono Service award from the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland in partnership with the Maryland State Bar Association.

We’re proud to be recognized for our unwavering commitment to building a just and humane immigration system in Maryland and beyond.

Thank you to Amica Center Board members Himedes Chicas for accepting the award and Karen Grisez for nominating us!

After 25 years of defending one another, the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition has started a new chapter with a new name: Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (“Amica Center” for short).

“Amica” is the Latin word for “friend,” and that echoes the way we approach what we do. Just as friends stand with one another, Amica Center stands with our clients to achieve the safety, stability, and opportunity we all need.

Our new name, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, reflects who we are, the work we do, and the people we are proud to call our clients.

Learn more about our new name change at https://amicacenter.org/about-us/introducing-the-amica-center-for-immigrant-rights/