California Immigrant Justice Pipeline Project: Your Support is Needed!
The Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) supports the creation of the California Immigrant Justice Pipeline Project (also known as the California Immigrant Justice Fellowship Project), which would establish a pilot project designed to enhance the legal capacity to serve immigrants in the Central Valley and the Central Coast, two regions in California that lack an adequate legal infrastructure, particularly for immigrants in detention and removal proceedings. The project establishes a model of collaboration between nonprofit legal services providers in these regions and another set of better equipped agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area. It recruits and trains a cohort of recent law school graduates and then deploys them to the Central Valley and the Central Coast. The project has been designed by the Northern California Rapid Response and Immigrant Defense Network (NCRRIDN) and the Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (NCCIJ).
The proposal has important benefits to immigrants, immigrant serving organizations and the Central Valley:
Immigrant families impacted by the federal government’s much criticized and irrational enforcement policies will have access to legal assistance offered by qualified professionals.
Nonprofit legal services providers in the Central Valley and the Central Coast will improve their organizational capacity and be able to expand their range of services.
An unprecedented level of cross-regional collaboration will be developed, linking the Central Valley, the Bay Area and the Central Coast.
The State of California’s immigration policies designed to protect and defend the rights of immigrant families residing in the Golden State will be implemented more equitably throughout the state and not run into the bottlenecks created by the funneling of resources to resource rich regions.
The successful implementation of the Project will permit its expansion to other regions of California facing the same limitations in legal infrastructure.
The California Immigrant Justice Pipeline proposal has been presented to the California State Legislature and to the Executive branch.
The proposal has obtained the support of scores of organizations from the Central Valley, the Bay Area, the Central Coast and other parts of California.
Photos below correspond to the legislative hearings where the proposal has been presented. Please check the post frequently. It will be updated on an ongoing basis.
Support the California Immigrant Justice Pipeline Project!
To find out how you can join CVIIC, NCRRIDN, NCCIJ and many other organizations endorsing the Project, please reach out to us via the contact form here.
The Project must receive approval and funding during the Spring 2019 legislative period.
Interested organizations and individuals can join our campaign and also contact key legislative leaders. Below is the packet of materials that has been delivered to the Senate and the Assembly, as well as a sample letter that can be sent to legislative leaders:
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Hearing April 3, 2019
