May 3, 2025

Join VAAP and VT Queer Legal Professionals!

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 immigrants and community members; maximize impact across sectors; and advocate to protect immigrants’ rights. www.vaapvt.org. TODAY 5/3 - VT LAWYERS MARCH TODAY, MAY 3RD Lawyers, legal workers, policy professionals, community advocates, and everyone in between are warmly welcome to join Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) & the Vermont Queer Law and Policy Professionals (VTQLP) today at the VT Lawyers March for Rule of Law.   GATHER FROM 11:30AM  Meet outside Chittenden Superior Court for face paint and streamers show out for immigrant and LGBTQ+ Vermonters. We'll be selling merch to benefit Migrant Justice until the march launches at noon.   FROM ORGANIZERS 300+ Vermont Lawyers are marching to demonstrate their commitment to protecting the Rule of Law. Lawyers attending are encouraged to wear black or dark blue “courthouse” attire, comfortable walking shoes, and to bring signs related to the Rule of Law. March at noon from Chittenden Superior Court. 175 Main Street, Burlington. Lawyers and protestors will march north along Church Street to the Federal Courthouse on Elmwood Avenue, to a rally with speakers on the green at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, directly across from the Federal  Court. Speakers include Attorney Leslie Black, Emcee; Harry Stark, ACLU VT; David Silver, Criminal Defense Attorney; Honorable Charity Clark, Vermont Attorney General; Dawn Seibert, Immigration Attorney; Elizabeth Shackelford, Columnist and former Foreign Service Career Diplomat.   FROM VAAP As the Trump administration's efforts to centralize executive power surpass the 100-day mark, Vermont legal advocates are mobilizing to defend constitutional rights and marginalized communities. The Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) and Vermont Queer Law and Policy Professionals (VTQLP) are uniting to highlight the experiences of immigrant and queer Vermonters. The event will feature the sale of Migrant Justice merchandise to support rapid response initiatives, along with face painting and streamers to visibly demonstrate solidarity. This activism coincides with International Workers' Day, May Day, and the Vermont federal court's release lof Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia University student and Vermont resident who was detained by ICE during his citizenship interview in Colchester. Mahdawi's case has garnered widespread support from Vermont lawmakers and civil rights groups amid escalating retaliatory immigration enforcement infringing upon First Amendment rights. Advocates stress that immigration law's insulation from judicial review has made it a testing ground for authoritarian policies, threatening fundamental rights such as due process and free speech for all. We will never have more power or opportunity than this very moment to stand up and fight back, so join us at the VT Lawyers March today. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Behind the scenes, our direct immigration legal services continue. Thanks to our staff, board, pro bonos, partners, and generous financial supporters, we have filed dozens of new asylum cases this calendar year on top of all of the education and advocacy work profiled above. We are winning clients' work permits and green cards and bond motions, and getting removal proceedings terminated. We are meeting community members where they are at - from Northwest State Correctional Facility ICE custody to the Bennington County Multicultural Community Center - to make sure they have all the information needed to make the best decisions for themselves about their cases. Our legal work is helping Vermont immigrants to access initial asylum-based employment authorization documents, orders of release on bond, venue and address change motions, and more. They tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds. 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.