Special Year-End Match: All Donations Doubled!
Special Year-End Match: All Donations Doubled!
For nearly 30 years, the Tahirih Justice Center has provided free legal and social services to over 36,000 immigrant survivors of gender-based violence — people navigating abuse, trauma, and an increasingly hostile immigration system. Tahirih operates a centralized helpline that offers immediate safety planning, legal advice, and support to survivors.
In 2025, calls for help have doubled.
Support from the Defending Our Neighbors Fund has helped Tahirih retain critical staff, such as attorneys and impact litigators, at a time when survivors face growing fear in seeking help or accessing services.
Survivors aren’t just afraid of their abusers; they’re afraid that calling for help will get them deported. ICE is everywhere — in courthouses, clinics – and collaboration between ICE and local police makes it harder for people to trust calling 911. Every path to safety now looks like a trap, even those to which survivors are legally entitled. The idea of a safe tomorrow doesn’t feel real — not when survivors fear that trying to escape will lead to their arrest. Our legal services don’t just give people hope, they open the door to safety.
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center has spent decades providing legal services to low-income immigrants in El Paso, Texas and across the border region. The team, now under 20 staff members, works primarily on removal defense – helping people navigate complex deportation proceedings and access their rights in detention.
As hostility towards immigration groups continues, Las Americas lost major funding and faced difficult layoffs. Support from the Defending Our Neighbors Fund arrived at a critical moment. It helped us avoid deeper cuts, keep experienced staff on board, and respond quickly to urgent cases, including access to people detailed at new sites like Camp East Montana at Ft. Bliss.
This funding came at a moment when everything felt uncertain. It meant we could keep showing up for people in detention, for families navigating impossible systems, and for a community that depends on us. In this environment, staying open isn’t guaranteed. Support like this lets us keep the doors open when our community needs us most.
In March, the administration initiated a comprehensive attack on immigrant children by eliminating legal lifelines. In a single week, the government abruptly shut down funding for lawyers for unaccompanied children and placed children on “rocket dockets” where toddlers to pre-teens were forced to appear alone in court on an unprecedented, expedited timeline.
With no notice, we were forced to halt representation for hundreds of children who depend on our advocacy. We were faced with the impossible choice of continuing to represent our clients without funding or abruptly withdrawing representation, leaving our clients vulnerable to further harm, exploitation and trafficking.
Funding from the Defending Our Neighbors Fund was a lifeline for our clients, our staff, and the organization. It enabled us to find a path forward which included meeting the needs of our young clients and upholding our ethical duties as lawyers.
