John, 

Yesterday in City Hall Park in Manhattan, we launched the Campaign for Access, Representation, and Equity (CARE) for Immigrant Families. If the Access to Representation Act (ARA) is passed, New York would become the first state to enact a right to counsel for immigrants, making us a national leader in enacting commonsense immigration policies.

The ARA is a first-in-the-nation piece of legislation that would empower immigrants to protect themselves and their families in legal proceedings. No person should have to navigate our complex legal system without expert help, which is why the NYIC, Vera Institute for Justice, and I-ARC kicked off the CARE for Immigrant Families coalition to guarantee access to legal counsel in immigration court for all immigrant New Yorkers, regardless of income or legal status.

Investing in legitimate legal resources will help eligible immigrants protect their rights during heightened, and often unchecked, immigration enforcement. It will also protect all immigrants who are vulnerable to fraudulent schemes, as non-authorized providers often seek to fill that gap in the market.

It’s a no-brainer that having expert legal assistance can drastically alter the outcome of your legal proceedings — but there are countless barriers to access for the average immigrant New Yorker. Unlike citizens who have the right to an attorney in the criminal legal system, immigrants are not afforded that same right; if they cannot afford a private attorney, they must find a nonprofit able to help or represent themselves. Many immigration legal service providers don’t receive adequate funding to hire and retain staff to serve new clients while guaranteeing that existing clients will have lawyers for the duration of their cases. These obstacles are actively keeping immigrant families from successful legal proceedings that keep them safe in the country they call home — and this can impact any immigrant family, no matter how long they have been in the United States.

Our demands are simple: we need our elected officials to pass the Access to Representation Act, guaranteeing that immigrants in deportation proceedings will never have to defend themselves against a trained government lawyer alone. This act would be the first of its kind in the United States. 

The Access to Representation Act will mandate that the State appoint a lawyer to anyone in New York who has a case before an immigration judge or who has a basis to appeal or request to reopen an old deportation order, and meets income requirements. 

We won’t rest until every New Yorker — whether they’ve been here for a few months or a few decades — has equitable access to representation that keeps them from being ripped away from their families and home. It’s time that New York leads the nation in enacting commonsense immigration policies that uplift all New Yorkers.  Will you fight alongside us?

In solidarity,

Murad Awawdeh