20,000 signatures reached
To: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Department of Homeland Security
We demand legal representation for ALL immigrants!
We demand Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) support federal funding for universal legal representation in immigration proceedings, expand public defender-style programs for immigrants nationwide, and more than anything else: Allow immigrants facing deportation to be represented in court and have full access to their legal representatives.
Legal representation is a basic right in criminal courts—and it should be a right in immigration courts too.
Access to a lawyer can mean the difference between safety and danger, family unity or separation, freedom or detention. But under our current system—and furthermore, under the Trump administration—whether someone gets a fair shot or their day in court depends purely on luck.
Why is this important?
Just days ago, three U.S. citizen children from two different families were deported with their mothers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One of them is a 4-year-old with Stage 4 cancer who was deported without medication or the ability to contact their doctors.
Lawyers say the families were taken to an ICE facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, where they were prevented from communicating with their family members and legal representatives and then put on a flight to Honduras. The lack of humanity and due process is shocking and intentionally violent.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in an already broken immigration system that isn’t working for anyone. And it’s becoming increasingly worse and harder to navigate for people under the Trump administration in the past few months.
Lawyers say the families were taken to an ICE facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, where they were prevented from communicating with their family members and legal representatives and then put on a flight to Honduras. The lack of humanity and due process is shocking and intentionally violent.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in an already broken immigration system that isn’t working for anyone. And it’s becoming increasingly worse and harder to navigate for people under the Trump administration in the past few months.
People are being arrested by ICE, their families ripped apart and their children—regardless of their citizenship— kidnapped and sent to countries they’ve never called home. This is happening right now in our country. And it must stop.
This isn’t about partisan politics. It’s a matter of fairness and basic rights. Trump’s administration and these expedited deportations are violating the rights of both citizens and noncitizens. It’s unacceptable.