'Liberal' Vera Institute of Justice Nabs Immigration Contract Worth $171.7 Million

Unaccompanied Alien Children and Their Right to Counsel

• The Vera Institute for Justice has nabbed a U.S. government contract worth anywhere between $171 million and $983 million to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied alien children (UACs) in immigration proceedings.
• By definition, an "unaccompanied alien child" is an alien under the age of 18 without lawful immigration status and "with respect to whom... there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States."

Among the other duties Congress directed ORR to perform was developing a plan "to ensure that qualified and independent legal counsel is timely appointed to represent the interests of each such child", consistent with section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

• That section of the immigration act provides aliens in removal proceedings with a right to counsel, but "at no expense to the Government".

The section directs DHS to transfer all UACs it encounters from "non-contiguous" countries (i.e., all countries other than Canada and Mexico) over to ORR in 72 hours, nearly all for placement with "sponsors" in the United States.

• Section 235 of the TVPRA addresses the issue of counsel for unaccompanied alien children (UACs).
• It directs HHS to make every effort to utilize the services of pro bono counsel who agree to provide representation to such children.

Vera Institute of Justice

• Vera's mission is: "To end the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty."
• A lot of Vera's work involves aliens and the immigration system.
• In February, Vera published a piece on its website arguing that Biden should: "If Biden truly wants a More 'Fair, Orderly, and Humane' Immigration System, He Needs to Do These 6 Things".

The article further asserts:

• "Last year's images of Black migrants being whipped by United States border patrol officers on horseback offered a searing illustration of the United States immigration system's fundamental brutality toward Black immigrants".
• The reference is to mounted Border Patrol agents in Del Rio in September, and despite all the things CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) attempted to show in its July 8 report on that incident, the one thing it did not find is that agents either had whips or whipped anyone.

 

https://cis.org/Arthur/Liberal-Vera-Institute-Justice-Nabs-Immigration-Contract-Worth-1717-Million