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July 2024

USC Equity Research Institute

 

In July 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion that adopted the recommendations of the L.A. County Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA) to create the RepresentLA program, building on its predecessor, the Los Angeles Justice Fund. Adopting the framework set forth in the report titled, Proposal for a Los Angeles Immigrant Community Legal Defense Program, RepresentLA is a merit-blind program that provides funds to organizations providing legal representation for removal defense and affirmative immigration relief, as well as social support services for clients and their families. The following are RepresentLA contractors and sub-contractors that have actively provided legal and social services to the immigrant community for the past few years:

  • Al Otro Lado, Affirmative Asylum
  • Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Affirmative and Removal Defense
  • Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles (CARECEN-LA), Affirmative and Removal Defense
  • Council on American-Islamic Relations-CA (CAIR), Removal Defense
  • Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project (Esperanza), Affirmative Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)
  • Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), Removal Defense
  • Los Angeles LGBT Center, Removal Defense
  • Public Counsel, Removal Defense
  • Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC), Affirmative Labor Trafficking
  • TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC), Removal Defense
  • University of Southern California Gould School of Law (USC), Removal Defense

This deliverable was prepared for the County administrator of the program, the County Office of Immigrant Affairs, to capture the program’s direction and impact since its inception. This deliverable includes demographic data on immigrant Angelenos; key takeaways on the importance of legal representation; an overview of the RepresentLA program; demographic and case activity data for RepresentLA clients since the program’s launch; and data from a wellness survey distributed to contractors and sub-contractors. The report concludes with key factors to consider for the program’s continuation.

Key Takeaways Include:

  1.  As of July 2024, RepresentLA had provided critical services, including legal orientation and pro se services, to 2,144 vulnerable immigrants who otherwise would not be represented. Indeed, about 14% of RepresentLA clients identified as LGBTQ+.
  2.  Attorneys are a lifeline to clients—71 families and 172 clients were referred to social services (as of July 2024)—but funds to hire in-house social workers are an urgent need.
  3.  Navigating a complex and ever-changing immigration system warrants funding for organizational capacity, technical assistance, and living wages—this is especially important in retaining attorneys who experience significant burnout. Due to this, RepresentLA has pivoted to respond to the moment in time and the needs of immigrant Angelenos.
  4.  Despite all the challenges contractors and sub-contractors face in providing legal services, they continue to achieve positive case outcomes for their clients—not only in the form of relief but also in providing competent counsel throughout challenging legal processes and the cancellation of removal proceedings, among others.
  5.  RepresentLA has expanded the infrastructure of legal services—that is critical in responding to a changing political landscape—yet the need continues to far outweigh the availability of resources.

RepresentLA has been key in providing critical services to vulnerable and diverse immigrant communities that contribute so much to Los Angeles County but are often given so little in return. As such, improving and adequately funding the resources that have already been created is key in maintaining the immigration legal services infrastructure of Los Angeles County and navigating an everchanging political landscape.

Read the LA County’s Consumer & Business Affair’s November 2024 status report on the RepresentLA program here, 2024-11-07-Status-Report-on-RepresentLA-Program_rc.pdf.

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