National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild

CONTACT:

14 Beacon Street, Suite 602
Boston, MA 02108
617-227-9727 x2
nationalimmigrationproject.org

Dan Kesselbrenner, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

The National Immigration Project was formed in 1974 as a committee of the National Lawyers Guild and became a free-standing organization here in Boston in 1980, as a “social justice bar group to protect, defend, and expand the legal, civil and constitutional rights of all immigrants in the United States, regardless of legal status.” In addition to aiding political refugees and working to expose violence against immigrant women and their children, they also provide training and technical legal support for over 1,000 immigration advocates, domestic violence shelter workers, and criminal defense practitioners across the U.S. The Project has successfully petitioned the Department of Homeland Security, published extensively on immigrants’ rights, and has publicized the plight of noncitizens with HIV. In Massachusetts, they’ve trained judges on the consequences for immigrants of criminal conduct in this state. In a country rife with tension concerning the status of immigrants, it is imperative that this kind of immigrant advocacy continues. Because of the National Immigration Project, families that would otherwise be separated by political borders are able to live and thrive together. This is an organization that works at the strategic level, helping hundreds of thousands of people accede simply to what is theirs by right, under our Constitution— and they need your help.

(2007: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being: Legal)