National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild
The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) is a national non-profit organization that works to protect and advance the rights of noncitizens by developing cutting-edge strategies to respond to unlawful immigration enforcement, government overreach, and efforts to erode immigrant rights. NIPNLG promotes justice and equality of treatment in all areas of immigration law, providing technical assistance and support to community-based immigrant organizations, legal practitioners, jailhouse lawyers, and all advocates for immigrant rights.
THE CASE
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Through the generosity of the Barbara McDowell Foundation, NIPNLG will represent detained immigrant children at the Berks County Residential Center in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It will seek to force the state to revoke the facility’s license to run a child residential facility due to egregious regulatory violations related to health services, mental health care, and language access, as well as traumatic night-checks that repeatedly interrupt children’s sleep. Without a license, the child detention facility will no longer be able to operate, and ICE will be required to release children to the community pending their deportation proceedings.
CASE UPDATES SINCE GRANT YEAR
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Doe v. Mici
Reports the successful results in a case brought in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania at the Berks County Detention Center. The suit claimed that detained immigrant children suffered serious deprivations related to health services, mental health care, and language access, as well as traumatic night-checks that repeatedly interrupt children’s sleep.
Families detained at the facility will now be able to file a petition to intervene in the state licensing dispute brought against the detention center and have their voice heard for the first time.
GRANT AMOUNT
$30,000 (2019)