This new initiative is a critical and natural next step following the end of ICE detention in Illinois earlier this year. Through MIDA, NIJC also will provide training and mentorship to welcome new legal practitioners into the immigration field. The lessons NIJC and our partners learn through the next year will help inform the work of a new Illinois state task force to provide recommendations for how the state can move toward providing legal representation for all Illinoisans facing deportation. The Vera Institute of Justice, a nongovernmental research group, will be tracking our case outcomes to evaluate how expanded access to counsel impacts people in detention in the Midwest. The MIDA partnership between nonprofit legal aid organizations and the Immigration Unit Pilot of the Cook County Public Defender could also reduce racial disparities that permeate the U.S. immigration system. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other immigrants of color are disproportionately targeted for criminal arrest, which significantly affects their ability to remain in the United States. Working together, public defenders and immigration counsel have the best chance of ensuring immigrants’ rights are upheld throughout the course of their legal proceedings. We also believe that universal representation models mitigate biases during the initial triage of cases, when service providers usually must decide who is most deserving of services. NIJC’s legal team has represented detained people facing deportation for more than 30 years. Every day, we see the difference it makes for people to have a legal advocate by their side to navigate the complex, punitive, and often traumatizing U.S. immigration system. We are thrilled to have an opportunity for Illinois to join the ranks of other states like New York and California, whose universal representation programs have demonstrated that ensuring access to affordable legal counsel both upholds justice and helps keep families and communities strong and intact. You can visit NIJC’s website for more information about MIDA, along with resources for people in detention and their loved ones who are seeking legal support. Thank you for joining us in supporting access to justice for all. Sincerely, Ruben Loyo
Associate Director of NIJC’s Detention Project P.S. Want to learn more about the role partnerships between private legal aid and public defenders offices can play in upholding justice in our communities? MIDA partners from the Office of the Cook County Public Defender and The Resurrection Project discussed this subject with WBEZ’s Reset, and it’s worth an 18-minute listen. | 
MIDA is a partnership between NIJC, The Resurrection Project, The Immigration Project, and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Through a one-year pilot project, MIDA representatives will be at the Chicago Immigration Court one day each week, and any detained and unrepresented individual who has an initial hearing that day who cannot afford a private lawyer will have the opportunity to request a legal consultation and receive free legal representation. The program will reach immigrants in detention centers in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kentucky. 
