Amica Center for Immigrant Rights

The Amica Center for Immigrant Rights provides unwavering legal defense and strategic litigation for immigrant children and adults facing detention and deportation. For nearly three decades, they have been fighting for the rights, safety, and unity of immigrant communities, standing with those trapped in our nation’s fundamentally flawed immigration system. 

The United States detains more immigrants than any other country in the world. Every day, people are separated from their families, communities, and livelihoods and sent to remote detention centers often in hostile jurisdictions—leaving many children without caregivers and homes without providers. With no right to a public defender in immigration court, many are forced to navigate complex, intimidating legal proceedings entirely on their own. 

Amica Center is often the final line of defense for thousands of people in detention and at risk of deportation. They help as many people as possible while pushing for meaningful, lasting systemic change. They pursue this through a combination of direct services, impact litigation, and advocacy. 

• Direct Services: Amica Center provides direct legal representation, know-your-rights presentations, intake services, legal advice, pro bono coordination, and social services for immigrant children from the Capital region who are detained in the DMV and beyond. Their attorneys, paralegals, and volunteers meet people inside detention facilities and support them through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. 
• Impact Litigation & Advocacy: To address widespread failures in the immigration system, Amica Center’s Immigration Impact Lab strategically appeals cases, develops and files impact litigation, and launches advocacy initiatives. Their work aims to hold the government accountable, reform harmful practices, and establish legal precedents that protect broad groups of immigrants nationwide. 

The Current Reality: Right now, immigrants in the United States are living in constant fear and uncertainty as the federal government expands local law enforcement involvement in immigration enforcement and deploys ICE officers in communities across the country. Families are being torn apart, homes are being raided, and parents are being taken from their children. 

In this moment—when access to legal representation is often the only safeguard keeping families and communities together—Amica Center is doubling down on ensuring that immigrant adults and children in government detention receive free, direct legal defense. Through a hybrid strategy that combines frontline representation, litigation to challenge abuses and unlawful policies, and public education and advocacy, we are actively pushing back against harmful government actions and working to protect the rights and safety of immigrant communities.