April Day of Action at VT StateHouse
Tuesday April 1, 2025
VT Day of Action for Immigrants at the Vermont State House
Come to the VT Statehouse next week and support:
Fair housing for immigrants (H.169) in the Cedar Creek Room at 11!
Family unity for queer, immigrant families (S.95/H.98) in Room 1 at 2:30!
But also, our lawsuit to restore immigration legal services at 1!
You read that last point right: this week VAAP joined national nonprofit partners in suing the Department of Health & Human Services to restore legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children. The federal lawsuit challenges the government's most brazen attack on immigrant children since family separation. VAAP and partners are represented in this matter by the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, and Justice Action Center.
The lawsuit, filed against the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and other defendants, challenges the termination of services on Friday, March 21, 2025, for immigrant children who enter the United States without a parent or guardian, often fleeing persecution, trafficking, and physical or sexual abuse in their home countries.
Pursuant to these programs, nonprofit legal service providers across the country, including VAAP, meet with unaccompanied children within days of their arrival in the U.S. to provide Know Your Rights presentations and legal screenings. They use puppets and cartoons to help children as young as toddlers understand what it means to be in immigration removal proceedings. They further represent them in immigration court and applications for affirmative relief and advocate for the children on aspects like their well-being and care.
This termination means that 26,000 children risk losing their attorneys nationwide, and tens of thousands of others will not get any legal assistance. These programs have had bipartisan support for over two decades, as Congress has expressly recognized the unique vulnerability of unaccompanied children. Without these programs, immigrant children and babies will lose legal representation, leading to deportations and denials of relief without due process, on top of causing chaos and delays in the immigration system.
The lawsuit aims to restore immediate access to these essential programs cancelled by the government, ensuring that unaccompanied immigrant children receive the legal representation and support that is their right.
Organizational plaintiffs in the suit include Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Estrella del Paso, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA), Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, National Immigrant Justice Center, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Social Justice Collaborative, and Vermont Asylum Assistance Project.
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
Plaintiffs’ TRO/PI Motion and Memo
Zoom Link: https://cand-uscourts.zoomgov.com/j/1603329440?pwd=OW1ZZWlZcklySHBMcStTVDZvZDJoUT09
Webinar ID: 160 332 9440
Password: 426303
AND please don't forget to email or call the House Government Operations Committee to support the Office of New Americans bill (S.56/H.375), being heard next week after passing almost unanimously through the Senate!
They are trying to bury us but they forget that we are seeds.
