VIISTA (Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies)

VIISTA is a game changer in the field of legal training for Accredited Representatives and immigrant advocates. However, as students graduate from my program and others, they will be operating within an anachronistic environment that lacks a developed role for paraprofessionals. At a time when the shortage of qualified legal advocates is cruelly separating families, this must change. I will use the Elevate Prize money to create a hub of advocacy, professional association, and continuing education for this burgeoning community of immigrant advocates from all sectors of society. I am evaluating if this hub is an independent organization, and if so, what kind.

The Elevate Prize money would leverage this moment specifically to:

1)    Advocate for transparent standards at the Department of Justice (or the body administering the immigration courts) for Accredited Representatives in order to define the profession and help build careers;

2)    Forge partnerships with legal associations and legal services organizations who want creative solutions to the problems of under-representation and access to justice;

3)    Market VIISTA to communities of immigration activists seeking training, including universities and community colleges, faith-based organizations, encore career hubs, potential law students, teachers, health professionals, policy analysts, and of course immigrants. 

Like so many Americans, I cannot tolerate a 6-year old girl standing in immigration court alone expected to defend herself. As an immigration law professor, I know educating more law students in not the answer. In fact, I believe that legal education contributes to the equity problems in the US because it is time-consuming, expensive, and impractical for many. The truth is you do not have to be a lawyer to help poor people confront the legal system.

I seek to expand access to justice by changing the way law is practiced in our democracy. Like nurse practitioners are to medical doctors, I envision new categories of licensed paraprofessionals delivering limited legal services to those whose lives often depend on a court ruling.

My program VIISTA is a new model to educate people from all segments of society to play a vital role in the justice system, starting in immigration. It leverages advances in educational technologies, learning sciences, and scalable online learning, and offers a practical pathway to those wanting “to do more” in their communities.  

I want to professionalize and standardize the field of legal paraprofessionals so that representation is just a fact for those fighting for their lives.

My organization is the bridge between the millions of immigrants in need of legal counsel and the tens of thousands of concerned Americans who are hungry to help them. VIISTA is envisioned as two pillars: (1) an educational program that effectively trains people to provide the services that immigrant families need; and (2) a hub that professionalizes the emerging career path and cultivates the growing community of immigrant advocates.

I spent five years building pillar one: an online, scalable certificate program to teach the holistic set of skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to advocate for immigrant families. VIISTA has quickly become a pathway for passionate people aspiring to become part of the solution. 

Now is time for pillar two: building the hub that is the locus for the community. The core goals are to: (1) credentialize the immigrant advocate as a new layer in the legal services ecosystem, akin to nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants; (2) connect and support immigrant advocates blazing this trail; (3) share best practices and resources within the community; (4) provide volunteer opportunities; and (5) serve as a model for democratization of access to law in other legal fields, namely evictions, veterans’ affairs, and social security.

Access to justice is a systemic problem in the U.S. While the legal bar tries to mitigate the inequity by incentivizing lawyers to do more pro bono work, I look at it differently.

I believe our access to justice problems start with the cost and structure of legal education. My work tackles the century-old model of lawyering by proving it is possible to educate people to provide limited legal services in discrete areas of law, namely those experienced by poor people. My answer is an online, scalable, inexpensive, yet practical educational program that turns concerned citizen into an accredited legal representative.  

I am building the proof of concept in immigration law by: (1) educating members of immigrant communities so that they can advocate and organize for change; (2) expanding the pipeline of qualified immigrant advocates who are certified to represent migrants and their families; and (3) promoting a new employment category within the legal services sector for which immigrants are uniquely qualified, thereby increasing their economic opportunities and civic engagement.

This model is also innovative because it can expand to other areas of civil law, including those critical for post-pandemic recovery: evictions, bankruptcy, family law, social security, and veterans’ affairs. 

We cannot talk about equity, equality, or justice without addressing access to legal representation. Indeed, leaders of the legal profession are increasingly recognizing that long-existing rules limiting the practice of law to JDs have led to huge inequities and left many poor and disenfranchised communities with civil legal matters - like immigration, evictions, or custody - to confront the legal system without any legal representation. 

As immigration court backlogs top 1.3 million cases, children stand in court alone, and families are ripped apart by unwarranted deportation orders, the stakes have never been higher. As a law professor, I’m invested in modernizing the legal profession to realize the promise of access to justice.

Decades-old federal regulations permit non-lawyers to represent immigrants in immigration court as Accredited Representatives, yet only 239 fully Accredited Representatives exist nationwide - a gross under-use of a valuable authority. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of volunteers want to help immigrants.

My program trains passionate advocates to represent immigrants.  I seek to build a new career path for paraprofessional in legal services to address the crisis in legal representation for immigrants, modeling a way to add careers in legal services while laying the groundwork for systemwide legal empowerment.