City Bar President’s Statement on the Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act

The City Bar strongly supports the Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act, which would provide counsel to unaccompanied children and the mentally disabled in deportation proceedings. This is a crucial first step toward ensuring fairness and justice for those incapable of representing themselves. Moreover, as the report we requested from NERA Economic Consulting demonstrates, a national public defender system for immigrants facing deportation would pay for itself through savings in the cost of detention, foster care and transportation. We support Representative Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership in working to provide much needed counsel to these vulnerable groups. Debra L. Raskin, President