New grants add attorney capacity to provide due process in defense removal proceedings
Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund (VILDF) today announced that it has raised more than $850,000 from thousands of donors across the state since its launch on May 8, 2025. The organization has a goal of raising $1 million in one year to create a sustainable immigration legal defense system in Vermont. The incredible grass roots support reflects Vermonters’ motivation to uphold the right to due process for all persons as it is enshrined in Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.
VILDF is also announcing a fourth round of awards to three organizations providing direct legal and interpretation services to those involved in defense removal proceedings: The Association of Africans Living in Vermont, or AALV ($188,700), the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law & Graduate School ($67,500), and the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project ($60,000).
“The way ICE agents are conducting themselves represents the worst of our country, but the actions of immigration attorneys represent the best,” said State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, who founded the Defense Fund in his personal capacity. “Our work has directly funded individuals and organizations involved in securing the release of three Vermonters detained by ICE in South Burlington earlier this month. And this new round of funding will further strengthen our ability to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all Vermonters. I am so impressed by, and so grateful for, the generosity of Vermonters in making this happen.”
VILDF’s Advisory Committee approved the slate of awards on March 23. The Advisory Committee is focused on non-profit organizations providing direct legal services to those involved in removal proceedings.
“More Vermonters are seeing just how critical legal representation is in this moment,” said State Senator Kesha Ram-Hinsdale, who helped launch VILDF. “These awards are a direct response to that urgency and will help ensure that people facing detention or separation are not navigating it alone.”
The fourth slate of awards will provide additional attorney capacity and other support for immigrant legal defense:
- Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV): This award will support a new attorney position and several other related costs at AALV for a total of $188,700. AALV provides direct legal support to a large number of refugees and asylum seekers. The new hire will be able to respond to a shifting federal policy landscape, and the structure of this award is based in part on best practices advised by refugee offices and agencies in sister states like Minnesota and Maine.
- Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law & Graduate School (CJRC): The $67,500 award to the immigration legal clinic at the Vermont Law & Graduate School will fund an administrative position that would allow their small team of lawyers to shift time to active case work. This award reflects a similar award to VAAP in 2025 that proved useful in expanding available attorney capacity.
- Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP): The $60,000 award to VAAP will catalyze the direct service providing capacity of the organization’s expanded staff and facilitate FY27 transition planning for the immigration legal services sector. VAAP has used the funds it has been awarded to date – $250,000 – to augment their attorney and intake capacity. VAAP is now leading an effort with other community organizations across the state – AALV, VT Legal Aid, VLGS, and others – to coordinate their future grant applications, funding needs, and attorney supports to make the sector’s needs sustainable over time.
“These funds will help AALV expand the legal services it provides in our community at a crucial time,” said Nathan Virag, Immigration Attorney at AALV. “AALV is proud to stand alongside those contending with changing immigration policies. We will continue to ensure that every member of our community, citizen and non-citizen, is treated with dignity and fairness.”
“This is a turning point for Vermont. The Defense Fund has created the opportunity – and the responsibility – for providers to come together, steward these resources collectively, and build the long-overdue infrastructure needed to sustain immigration legal services statewide,” said VAAP Executive Director Jill Martin-Diaz. “That shared approach is what will allow all of us to meet growing demand and protect due process into the future.”
"We are deeply grateful to the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund for this generous investment in the Center for Justice Reform Clinic," said Brett Stokes, Director of the CJRC. "This gift will allow our attorneys to focus more fully on client advocacy and student supervision, expand our capacity to take on additional cases, and more effectively defend the due process rights of noncitizens across Vermont."
“Vermonters have always shown up for one another, and this effort is no exception,” said United Way of Northwest Vermont CEO Jesse Bridges. “As fiscal sponsor of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund, we are proud to support the Fund in raising resources for community-led organizations that are meeting emergent needs while strengthening Vermont’s legal defense system. This is United Way’s mission in action; listening closely, partnering boldly, and mobilizing Vermonters to invest in meaningful impact for our neighbors.”
The Defense Fund will be hosting two public fundraisers in April, one in Brattleboro on April 2 and one in Burlington on April 29.
- For additional information about the Brattleboro event, please see the link here.
- For additional information about the Burlington event, please see the link here.
The United Way of Northwest Vermont, which stewards the funds for VILDF, will manage the awards. For more information about VILDF, please see https://www.vermontlegaldefensefund.com.
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Vermont Business Magazine