VAAP Year-End Appeal

A pivotal moment for immigrant justice in Vermont

View this email in your browser Vermont Asylum Assistance Project is a legal services and technical assistance organization that exists to mentor no-cost and low-cost immigration lawyers and legal workers; educate and serve VT immigrants and community members; maximize impact across sectors; and advocate to protect immigrants’ rights. Join us: www.vaapvt.org. Donate to VAAP Want to read this newsletter in Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Dari, or Portuguese? Visit www.vaapvt.org/newsletters and select your language in the top right corner. ¿Desea leer este boletín en español, francés, criollo haitiano, dari o portugués? Visite www.vaapvt.org/newsletters y seleccione su idioma en la esquina superior derecha. Quer ler este boletim em espanhol, francês, crioulo haitiano, dari ou português? Visite www.vaapvt.org/newsletters e selecione seu idioma no canto superior direito. Voulez-vous lire ce bulletin en espagnol, français, créole haïtien, dari ou portugais? Visitez www.vaapvt.org/newsletters et choisissez votre langue en haut à droite. Vle li bilten sa a an panyòl, fransè, kreyòl ayisyen, dari oswa pòtigè? Ale sou www.vaapvt.org/newsletters epi chwazi lang ou anlè adwat. آیا می‌خواهید این خبرنامه را به اسپانیایی، فرانسوی، کریول هایتی، دری یا پرتغالی بخوانید؟ به www.vaapvt.org/newsletters بروید و زبان خود را در گوشهٔ بالا سمت راست انتخاب کنید. RENEWING YOUR IMPACT Dear Friend, This year, Vermont’s immigrant communities faced escalating threats to their safety, dignity, and due process. Vermont has seen a sharp increase in immigration detention—an estimated 750-850 in 2025 up from a handful in 2024. At the same time, VAAP has received weekly reports of Vermonters being detained at work, during traffic stops, and in other everyday settings. This rise in detention—and the widening reach of enforcement—means more people in crisis, more families at risk, and a greater need for rapid legal intervention. Yet in the face of unprecedented need, something extraordinary happened: your support protected Vermont noncitizens from facing detention or deportation alone. Because of you, VAAP’s attorneys and volunteers were able to meet people in their most vulnerable moments—inside correctional facilities, in emergency medical crises, on the brink of deportation—and fight for their freedom, their families, and their futures. I want to share just a few of the lives you helped protect this year: You helped free a longtime Vermont mom—a resident of more than 24 years—who was wrongly placed in expedited removal and detained. When we met her, she faced deportation within days. VAAP mobilized immediately, coordinated with her U.S.-citizen son, and presented evidence proving her long-term residency. A process that would have silently separated a family was stopped. She now has the chance to make her case in immigration court—with due process, not summary removal. You helped safeguard a former child soldier who was detained without understanding why. With limited English and deep trauma, he was nearly forced to represent himself at a hearing he did not comprehend. VAAP secured a psychological evaluation and protected him from an unjust, rapid deportation. Without regular detention visits—funded by supporters like you—he may have never been found. You helped reunite someone previously persecuted in East Asia for practicing a peaceful spiritual tradition focused on meditation and moral discipline with his family. Detained for months by ICE, and punished by his Vermont Department of Corrections custodians for “noncompliance” with facility policies they failed to interpret or translate into Chinese, he spent a week in solitary confinement and nearly lost the chance to apply for asylum with his wife. VAAP intervened, provided a full screening in his native language, documented the systemic failures of the detention center personnel, and helped connect his case with his wife’s pending asylum claim—restoring hope and legal footing for the entire family. You helped prevent the self-deportation of a Black Vermonter who has lived in the United States since the early 1990s and is a father and husband to U.S. citizens. Misled by ICE and without counsel, he nearly signed away his rights. After meeting with VAAP, he declined to sign further paperwork and was connected with pro bono counsel in his home community. Because of you, this father is still here—able to fight his case with dignity and legal support. You helped secure asylum for an LGBTQ+ Vermonter whose story of abuse and persecution could only be told with intensive preparation and in-person support. He is now protected—along with his spouse and children—because he had a legal team that stood beside him. You helped achieve freedom for Vilma Aparicio-Deras, who consented to media coverage after being detained just two days after hospitalization and denied four urgently prescribed medications. VAAP fought for facility access, documented her worsening medical condition, and coordinated a rapid habeas petition. A federal judge granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and ultimately ordered her release. Today, she is safe, recovering with her family, and preparing the next steps in her case from outside detention. And you helped win freedom for Mohammad Rashid, a Palestinian asylee who also consented to media coverage after he was suddenly detained under unlawful application of new Trump-era rules. When we met him, he was facing transfer out of Vermont and the real possibility of fighting his case from a distant detention center—cut off from community, counsel, and safety. VAAP filed quickly, coordinated with partners, and persuaded the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont to order the immigration court to correct its errors. Mohammad was granted bond and walked out of detention to rebuild his life in the community. Today, he can pursue his case with dignity and due process—not from a jail cell. These are only a handful of the hundreds of people whose lives were directly shaped by VAAP this year. And they are only possible because people like you believe in protecting due process, dignity, and human rights—especially when those values are under political attack. Donate to VAAP Your support today will determine how many people we can protect tomorrow. Just this fall, your investment made possible: 43 legal consultations with detained individuals 62 people represented in active removal proceedings 27 detained people receiving legal intervention 10 bond hearings and 5 habeas actions litigated Nearly 100 volunteer attorneys, interpreters, and students mobilized Multiple life-changing case victories—from asylum grants to bond wins But the demand continues to rise, and systemic barriers across Vermont’s detention facilities make our presence—and persistence—more urgent than ever. Our attorneys and volunteers show up because people’s lives depend on it. But we can only continue this work with you by our side. Will you make a gift today to defend due process for every person in Vermont, regardless of where they were born? Your gift directly sustains: senior attorney staffing language access services  statewide detention access rapid-response litigation capacity pro bono supervision pipelines community-embedded legal support in rural Vermont Your support does more than change lives—it strengthens Vermont’s democratic values of fairness, accountability, and justice. Your donation ensures that when someone is detained, isolated, or facing deportation, VAAP will be there—ready to step in, fight back, and protect their rights. Together, we can build a Vermont where dignity, justice, and safety are realities for all of us. With gratitude and resolve, Jill Martin Diaz, Esq. Executive Director Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) P.S.: Please renew your gift today—your support keeps VAAP showing up for asylum seekers across Vermont. VAAPvt.org/donate or scan the QR code below. Thank you! Scan above or click below to give! Donate to VAAP Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2025, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.