GET legal HELP

Urgent Referrals for Individuals in Immigration Detention

To request free immigration legal help for detained individuals from VAAP or the Center for Justice Reform Clinic (CJRC) — the two law firms providing free detention defense services in Vermont: 

Email detained@vaapvt.org OR complete and submit the form below.

These communication channels are monitored by VAAP staff and volunteers who focus on detention defense. To request immigration legal help for nondetained individuals, scroll to the next section with a white background below and contact any of the listed organizations using their designated communication channels.

what to include

Please do not duplicate your submissions across channels/inboxes as that can slow down our response times. Our intake capacity changes weekly as cases open and close, so please continue to refer us cases ongoing even if we could not offer services last time. Documenting every request for help demonstrates the overwhelming unmet legal needs impacting Vermont.

To help us act quickly, please include in your message: Full name of the detained person, their date of birth, their A-number (if known), where they are being held (facility name, if known), and your contact information and relationship to the person.

If you have immigration documents (such as prior court papers, bond paperwork, or ICE notices), you may share them by replying to your referral email with the attachments OR sending photos to our WhatsApp, 802-999-5654.

What to expect

After VAAP and CJRC receive the referral, you will receive an automatic confirmation that your referral was received. Our teams will triage referrals as quickly as possible. Because multiple people often send referrals to both organizations about the same individual, we will coordinate internally to reduce duplication. We may not be able to respond to every referral or provide direct representation.

Note that sending information to VAAP does not create an attorney-client relationship with VAAP or CJRC, and all information received will by handled pursuant to the Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct (VRPC). The VRPC requires us to consider our existing workloads and capacities when evaluating a referral for new legal help. Unfortunately, many individuals who become detained are not eligible for relief under current immigration laws, meaning some people will not have a legal remedy to their detention and/or deportation.

We know these moments are urgent and stressful. VAAP’s role is to ensure detained community members can access timely legal information and, when possible, representation, so that no one makes a life-changing decision about their immigration future based only on advice from ICE.

WHO ELSE CAN HELP

If you are concerned about a Vermont ICE detainee’s immediate health or safety (rather than their immigration legal needs), please contact their custodial facility directly to leave a message for the superintendent, and then email a record of your call and a summary of your concern to the Vermont Department of Corrections Constituent Advocacy Services Unit, via https://doc.vermont.gov/information-inmate-families-and-friends.

To request nonlegal, rapid response support from communicate advocates in case of emergencies like active border patrol checkpoints, active roadside stops, or ICE agents entering a home or building, contact Migrant Justice at 802-881-7229.

We maintain our private (fee-for-service) attorney referral list publicly, below, and may not be able to respond individually to each referral maker.

We share the community’s frustration about the severe shortage of immigration legal services in Vermont. VAAP is working hard to scale up staffing and expand the services we can deliver. In the meantime, we encourage you to voice your concerns about immigration legal access barriers:

• To your state representatives, via https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/.

• To the Vermont State Refugee Office, via https://humanservices.vermont.gov/our-work/programs-services/state-refugee-office.

Request legal help at detained@vaapvt.org or using this form: