The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and The Resurrection Project (TRP) applaud Chicago City Council vote to continue to allocate funding for the Chicago Legal Protection Fund in 2018. The budget vote means that NIJC and TRP, along with nine Community Navigator organizations, will have the opportunity to continue providing legal education and representation for Chicago immigrants who are living under increasing threat of deportation by the Trump administration. To date in 2017, the Legal Protection Fund has allowed NIJC to provide legal consultations to about 1,700 Chicagoans and legal representation in nearly 900 cases to help immigrants apply for affirmative forms of relief or defend themselves against deportation. TRP and Community Navigator organizations have reached over 22,000 Chicagoans through “know your rights” presentations and other community education efforts.

“Continuing funds for the Legal Protection Fund demonstrates Chicago’s commitment to its immigrant community,” said Raul Raymundo. “The Fund allows us and our partner organizations to reach thousands of Chicagoans to protect our families from deportation by arming them with their rights, showing up with them at court and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins, and connecting them to legal counsel.” Since the Fund launched in January 2017, the Trump administration has stripped legal status from nearly one million immigrants nationwide with the termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has significantly increased its presence in Chicago neighborhoods, and the administration has been explicit in its intentions of placing any undocumented immigrant its agents encounter into deportation proceedings. In the first nine months of 2017, with support from the Fund, NIJC was able to provide legal services to 90 percent more Chicagoans than during the same period in 2016. To read more about the Fund’s accomplishments, read NIJC and The Resurrection Project’s October 2017 report.