Because Seton Hall’s DDDI program is funded by state grants, the funding does not appear in our recently issued analysis of federal immigration funding of Catholic NGOs.
The Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (“DDDI” or “Initiative”) is a state-funded program that provides pro bono immigration counsel to indigent New Jerseyans in removal proceedings. Seton Hall Law’s Immigrants’ Rights/International Human Rights Clinic of the Center for Social Justice has participated in DDDI since its launch in 2018, along with Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Rutgers Newark Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic.
New Jersey has been one of the key states at the forefront of expanding access to counsel for noncitizens facing deportation and family separation. In 2016, as part of Judge Michael Chagares’s Working Group on Immigrant Representation in New Jersey, Seton Hall Law’s Immigrants’ Rights/International Human Rights Clinic issued a report entitled Deportation Without Representation: The Access-to-Justice Crisis Facing New Jersey’s Immigrant Families. The report revealed that only about one-third of detainees in New Jersey had access to legal representation during the length of the study. Following the publication of the study, under the leadership of Professor Lori A. Nessel, Seton Hall Law’s Immigrants’ Rights/International Human Rights Clinic worked together with several community organizations and legal associations to raise awareness about this issue. The State of New Jersey then funded a pilot project that provided legal representation to detained individuals with low incomes at risk of deportation. The funding has been renewed each year under the direction of Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Legislature. Most recently, the state of New Jersey allocated $8.2 million for fiscal year 2023-2024, thus continuing its support of access to counsel for noncitizens in New Jersey. Legal Services of New Jersey coordinates the funding from the State and Seton Hall Law School receives its funding as a sub-grantee of LSNJ.
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