The Virginia Justice Program (VJP)
Through the VJP, CAIR Coalition will offer resources and support to Virginia’s indigent defense providers concerning the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and will engage in related litigation and advocacy efforts. The goal of the VJP is to minimize disproportionate immigration penalties that often accompany criminal convictions for noncitizen residents in Virginia, including prolonged immigration detention and deportation.
PURPOSE OF VJP
CAIR Coalition formed the VJP in response to the current widespread shortfall in resources to assist immigrants in Virginia accused of crimes. Immigrants in the criminal justice system in Virginia face significantly heightened penalties compared to citizens charged with the same offense.
These penalties impact not only undocumented immigrants but refugees and asylum seekers, juveniles, and long time lawful residents with strong familial ties in the United States. During each jail visit, CAIR Coalition staff members meet men and women facing mandatory detention and deportation—without any chance to seek relief from an immigration judge—because of even a minor criminal conviction.
These penalties have particularly disproportionate consequences for longtime residents of the United States, whose deportation means that spouses, children, and communities will be left behind. Often, the disproportionate penalties faced by the noncitizens we meet might have been mitigated or avoided entirely had the individual’s criminal defense attorney been properly trained regarding the intersection of criminal and immigration law. For an example of the severe consequences of a criminal charge for an immigrant in Virginia, read Gabriel’s Story.
The often severe consequences of criminal convictions faced by noncitizens led to the Supreme Court’s 2010 pronouncement in Padilla v. Kentucky that, given the drastic increase in offenses that can lead to deportation, the need for accurate legal advice for noncitizens accused of crimes has never been more critical and is in fact required under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. In furtherance of this mandate, the VJP will serve the essential function of ensuring that non-citizens in Virginia receive equal access to justice by providing indigent defense attorneys with the resources they need to competently advise their noncitizen clients about the consequences of criminal convictions.
To fill this role, CAIR Coalition will provide basic and specialized trainings to public defenders’ offices in Virginia, develop and maintain written materials on the immigration consequences of criminal offenses in Virginia, and develop an email and telephonic consultation hotline to provide individualized consultations to members of the Virginia criminal defense bar. The VJP will operate in collaboration with major stakeholders in the Virginia indigent defense community, including the state’s public defenders’ offices, the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission.
WHO IS THE VJP?
To staff the VJP, CAIR Coalition welcomes Morgan Macdonald, who joined CAIR Coalition as a legal fellow in July 2014. Morgan previously worked at the law firms of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP and Fried Frank LLP, where he handled federal litigation matters and also regularly partnered with CAIR Coalition on the pro bono representations of immigrants in Virginia facing deportation as a result of criminal convictions. Morgan will be working closely with CAIR Coalition’s legal director, Heidi Altman. Heidi established one of the country’s first in-house immigration programs for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and, while a Supervising Attorney and Clinical Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law School, focused her scholarship on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.
RECENT WORK FROM THE VJP
Please consider making a donation to CAIR Coalition to support the VJP! Donations can be made online through the following page: https://www.caircoalition.org/donate/.
For any questions concerning the VJP, please contact Morgan Macdonald (morgan@caircoalition.org).
