National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)
NIJC’s pro bono team, including pro bono manager, Ellen Miller (center). Photo credit: NIJC
Supporting professionals working to protect immigrants’ rights
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) advocates for the rights of immigrants by providing pro bono legal services in many areas, including asylum, detention and due process, gender justice, and legal defense. As one of the largest national NGOs representing immigrants, NIJC identifies structural barriers to justice and exposes violation and abuse within the immigration enforcement and detention systems. Through an extensive network of attorneys, NIJC helps more than 10,000 individuals each year.
Support from the Walder Foundation has helped NIJC to expand its legal services, communications, and development.
Legal Services
NIJC’s expanded legal team serves LGBT immigrants and immigrants facing removal from the United States. They have provided representation in more than 50 cases over the past year for non-detained and detained LGBT immigrants regarding asylum, U visas, adjustment of status, family petitions, and many more. NIJC has also provided representation in more than 22 cases for immigrants in removal proceedings regarding U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, and cancellation of removal.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, NIJC activated a call for pro bono support on habeas petitions across the country to free immigrants from dangerous conditions in detention centers. Since March, NIJC and its pro bono partners have filed at least 18 federal lawsuits in multiple states and requested administrative release for at least 44 individuals. To date, 26 detained immigrants have been released and were able to reunite with their families. To further help the immigrant community during this time, NIJC has also provided technical support, COVID-related resources, and updates on the immigration court to ensure that clients in removal proceedings do not miss their hearings.
In a recent Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) case, NIJC attorneys and pro bono partners successfully litigated an SIJS case at the Illinois Appellate Court. The court, citing an Illinois law, reversed the trial court’s decision that a child was not eligible for SIJS findings. The published decision will be helpful in future SIJS cases as it has created a clear precedent for entry of SIJS findings in that district and statewide, creating greater acceptance and understanding of SIJS cases with the state judiciary. This will be critical for NIJC clients, as well as for children not represented by NIJC.
Communications
By sharing their clients’ stories, NIJC’s communications team works to change the narrative on immigration. By developing stories on clients’ cases, NIJC builds greater awareness on the issues many immigrants face today, and has featured clients and staff members in more than 100 local and national news stories on topics ranging from the Supreme Court’s DACA ruling to Trump’s asylum regulation.
Development
This past spring, NIJC’s development team successfully led the transition of their Human Rights Awards (HRA) event from an in-person luncheon to a virtual livestream. The virtual format allowed NIJC to feature a creative program that included a performance from the Albany Park Theater Project, a local nonprofit that works with young artists, many of whom are immigrants. The event raised revenue that will allow NIJC to retain all of its staff and programs without any cuts in fiscal year. In addition to the HRA, the team led an emergency response fundraising campaign in April to generate support for NIJC’s efforts to free immigrants from detention during the pandemic. They also led grant applications for new funding opportunities, including a proposal to support NIJC’s legal services in Indianapolis.
NIJC is a program of the Heartland Alliance.
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