Congressman Robert Garcia Introduces SHIELD Act to Bolster Immigration Legal Aid Access
Washington, D.C. – This week, Congressman Robert Garcia (CA-42) introduced the SHIELD Act to ensure that immigrants receive high quality legal representation in immigration court. Under current law, there is no right to counsel in immigration court. Millions of people, including children, face complicated deportation proceedings without lawyers. The SHIELD Act will create a grant program to support the recruitment, training, retention, and development of staff and resources for immigrant legal defenders. This legislation aims to increase the quality of legal representation for individuals facing deportation and create a more just and humane immigration system for our country. Congresswoman Norma Torres (CA-35) and Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03) are original co-sponsors of the legislation. The bill text can be found here.
“As an immigrant myself, I know first-hand how hard it is to navigate our immigration system and how hard finding quality legal representation can be. That is why the SHIELD Act is working to fix our outdated and overwhelmed immigration system; creating grants to increase the number of immigrant legal defenders,” said Congressman Robert Garcia. “This bill addresses our immigration system’s current problems and sets up the system to be successful long-term. As Mayor of Long Beach, we proudly established the Long Beach Justice Fund to help provide access to representation, and I am proud to build on that effort.”
“No one should ever be forced to navigate life-altering legal proceedings alone and without counsel, including immigrants facing immigration court, especially when the future of their children and families are at stake. Unfortunately, throughout the Inland Empire communities I represent, many individuals who are our neighbors, friends, family members, and even children are facing just that — deportation proceedings without counsel. That’s why I authored the Fairness to Freedom Act, to ensure universal access to legal counsel for immigrants,” said Congresswoman Norma Torres. “And that's why I am so proud to co-lead the SHIELD Act with Rep. Garcia, to establish a grant program to support recruiting, training, and retaining personnel and resources for immigrant legal defenders. If we are to provide this critical legal support, we must build the workforce to do so. Ultimately, this is about fairness, and by advocating for high-quality legal representation in immigration court, we can help ensure that individuals receive the support they need and deserve to have their fair day in court.”
"Outdated immigration policies and years of under-resourcing the immigration legal system have created historic immigration court backlogs that are straining essential legal providers. To ensure a fair, fully functioning system, we must invest and support immigration legal professionals and strengthen the legal infrastructure," said Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez. "I'm proud to join Representatives Robert Garcia and Norma Torres and immigration advocates in introducing the SHIELD Act, a commonsense solution to expand access to fair representation, clear backlogs, keep families together, and protect our communities."
“Many legal service providers nationwide are at capacity, unable to support people at risk of deportation who are struggling to defend their rights, remain with their families, and build safe and stable lives. The SHIELD Act will help overcome this challenge and provide a way for state and local programs and other deportation defense initiatives to access funding to support the deportation defense field. It is heartening to see federal legislation inspired by first-hand experience working in local jurisdictions. As Mayor of Long Beach, Rep. Garcia helped establish the Long Beach Justice Fund, in partnership with local immigrants rights leaders and Vera’s SAFE Network, which was the first universal representation program to serve that district. We are grateful for congressional deportation defense champions Rep. Robert Garcia and Rep. Norma Torres, alongside Rep. Delia Ramirez, for prioritizing due process and fairness to keep immigrant communities safe,” said Shayna Kessler, Director, Advancing Universal Representation initiative, Vera Institute of Justice
“With millions of pending immigration cases nationwide, a shortage of immigration legal professionals across the country, and the continued arrival of people seeking safety, we have no time to waste in building infrastructure that will help shield our communities’ families from separation and guarantee their right to due process when facing deportation. NPNA was founded with our member organizations building legal services programming to implement immigration policy victories both large and small. The implementation of the SHIELD Act – a bill that will resource our members and partners in legal service programming – is a commonsense step to improve our immigration system, close the representation gap, and advance fairness and family unity,” said Nicole Melaku, National Partnership for New Americans’ Executive Director
The SHIELD Act will allocate $100 million for a federal grant program to enhance the legal services workforce tailored to meeting the needs of those facing deportation. This bill will prioritize support for pre-existing state and local programs that need additional funding and are in underserved areas, while also offering four-year renewable competitive grants through the Department of Justice’s Office of Access to Justice for state and local governments, nonprofits, and educational institutions.
The bill has been endorsed by Alianza Americas, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, BAJI, Borderlands Resource Initiative, Brooklyn Defender Services, CASA, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Central American Resource Center of Northern California - CARECEN SF, Church World Service, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, FAITH IN TEXAS, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Human Rights First, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Immigrant Justice Corps, Immigration Law & Justice New York, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), ISLA: Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, International Rescue Committee, Just Neighbors, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Make the Road Nevada, Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), National Employment Law Project, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, ORALE, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Public Counsel, Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors, Advocates for Human Rights, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Immigration Hub, Immigration Project, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Women's Refugee Commission, UNITED SIKHS, Vera Institute of Justice, Washington Defender Association, BRIDGE, Building Skills Partnership, Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS), Define American, East Colfax Community Collective, International Council for Immigrants, National Immigration Forum, Nicaraguenses en el Mundo Texas, Inc, Patchwork Indy, Refugee Congress, Spanglish Consulting, UNITEHERE, Local 1, and Voices for Utah Children.
As Mayor of the City of Long Beach, Garcia worked closely with Vera to establish the Long Beach Justice Fund and thanks to President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, they established the Immigrant Defenders Law Center to defend immigrants who lived or worked in the community.
Congressman Garcia immigrated to the United States as a young child and his personal experiences have driven him to work to reform our broken immigration system in a way that is both humane and sustainable. Last month, he also took the House Floor to demand a vote on the American Dream and Promise Act, monumental bipartisan legislation that gives DREAMers a pathway to become lawful permanent residents.
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