Legal empowerment

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

More than 5 billion people live without access to meaningful justice. This means that too many people around the world live in conditions of extreme injustice, have justice problems they can’t resolve, or are excluded from the opportunities the law can provide.

In the United States specifically, immigrant communities often face discrimination and significant barriers to justice. The U.S. government has historically discriminated against immigrants, particularly immigrants of color. The immigration system in the United States is racist and violent. Some critics call it a “broken system” and others think it is functioning as intended––to enact harm and exclusion. In 2018, there were an estimated 44.8 million immigrants in the United States––about 13.7% of the population. In 2017, there were an estimated 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, approximately 1.5 million of whom had temporary permission to stay in the country. Yet, access to lawyers is scarce for immigrants and immigrants who are able to access lawyers fare better in immigration proceedings.

Another issue that greatly affects immigrant communities is “crimmigration”––the intersection of the criminal and immigration systems. Crimmigration reveals how racism and racial profiling inform policing in the United States. That is why Black immigrants and other overpoliced immigrants of color face a higher risk of deportation as a consequence of any police contact, even if they are never charged with a crime. And if they are charged with a crime, once they are released from prison, rather than being picked up by a loved one, non-citizen immigrants are picked up by ICE and now must unexpectedly fight against deportation. Sometimes too, lawyers are unable to take on cases of immigrants with criminal records because of funding constraints or because of the complexity of their cases. As of May 2024, there were over 36,000 immigrants booked into ICE detention and nearly 38% of them went through the criminal system. Thus, it is essential that immigrants have access to legal assistance that reduces the violent impacts of the racially charged criminal and deportation systems.

WHAT IS LEGAL EMPOWERMENT? 

Legal empowerment is a methodology that attempts to close this justice gap by expanding the legal ecosystem by increasing the number and type of legal actors, and diversifying ways to access justice. The immigration system must be completely revamped, but in the meantime, legal empowerment approaches mitigate the trauma and isolation that the U.S. immigration system enacts on communities. Legal empowerment thus gives communities the tools necessary to envision and implement immigration reform that is just, fair, and pro-immigrant.

Legal empowerment creates opportunities for individuals and communities to know, use, and shape the laws that affect their lives––known as the legal empowerment cycle. Legal empowerment democratizes law by redistributing legal power and knowledge. By centering people, legal empowerment enables communities to use the law in their struggle for justice and rights, and redefine the law. As such, legal empowerment sees justice-impacted people as more than just statistics but as whole human beings.

STORYTELLING

A key element of legal empowerment is storytelling. Because legal empowerment reveals justice-impacted people as whole human beings, the power of narrative––meaning people’s stories as told by themselves––is central to all strategies. For example, in community-driven campaigns and litigation, impacted individuals are in charge of their own stories, defying legal and media constraints. Whether in the courtroom or before a policymaker, they are directly voicing their stories and goals. With pro se legal clinics, immigrants gain the skills to carry out their own cases and thus, define how their stories are told. Justice-impacted people work at many of the featured organizations and help to shape how the communities they serve are described. When community members co-design and co-facilitate Know Your Rights programs, they ground the information being shared in real life. Finally, sharing real stories when engaging with funders and policymakers helps to humanize and empower those whose stories are being told.

CARE 

As legal empowerment practitioners we are not insulated from the harms of oppressive systems. Instead, many of us are being brutalized through housing insecurity, food scarcity, and lack of access to healthcare, as we work to empower ourselves and our communities. Legal empowerment recognizes that it is not sustainable to engage in this work if our material needs are not being met. As such, Justice Power believes that care, community, and networks of mutual aid are necessary pillars of this work.

Legal empowerment is more than a methodology. It is a way of meaning making and moving through the world that recognizes the inherent power within each of us. It is not the solution but a way to reduce harm and place the law in the hands of justice-impacted communities, decentering lawyers. Implementation of legal empowerment approaches does not mean that lawyers are replaced, but it creates an opportunity for lawyers to listen to communities and work together. Communities are experts of their lived realities and often hold valuable answers.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF LEGAL EMPOWERMENT?

Legal empowerment as a theory and practice dates back to the 1950s in South Africa during the years of apartheid. It started as a broad-based movement led by women community paralegals who partnered with lawyers, NGOs, and churches to document violations, provide legal assistance, and raise awareness of the injustices that communities of color endured. Legal empowerment strategies have since been adopted around the world. Today it is a global movement with thousands of organizations around the world engaged in grassroots justice efforts. In the United States’ immigrant rights context, legal empowerment strategies are slowly but surely being embraced with success. 

ENTER JUSTICE POWER 

Justice Power amplifies the powerful impacts of legal empowerment strategies being used to advance immigrant justice in the United States. In partnership with directly impacted community members, grassroots activists, and lawyers, Justice Power documents legal empowerment strategies that help immigrants know, use, and shape the laws that affect them. In this way, Justice Power is also a storytelling tool. The organizations featured on this site engage in creative, community-centered approaches to increase access to justice in a time of increasing hostility towards asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants where thousands are forced to navigate the system alone. 

Each of these strategies serves as a catalyst for different parts of the know, use, and shape cycle. Some strategies activate multiple parts of the cycle, while others may only activate a single part. For example, pro se clinics provide legal information, resources and support, allowing immigrants to understand relevant laws and policies so they can file their individual cases.  

Justice Power seeks to uplift the stories of and redistribute resources to immigrant communities, activists, and advocates. Learn more about legal empowerment and different implementing methods, as well as organizations advancing immigrant justice in the United States by clicking through the tabs.