BURLINGTON — A year ago, the thousands of residents in Vermont seeking U.S. citizenship had just two lawyers in the state who specialized in deportation defense, leaving many to face court alone.
Today there are eight.
That’s according to the organizers of the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund, who announced Monday they had topped its goal of raising $1 million in donations.
The fund has helped state legal organizations grow significantly since May 2025, State Treasurer Mike Pieciak said.
The fund was created by state officials and nonprofit leaders responding to intensified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the state. Federal law does not require the government to provide lawyers in immigration cases because they are civil, not criminal, leaving many of the roughly two dozen people held in Vermont prisons on immigration matters without representation. The fund was designed to close that gap.
The money was raised from thousands of Vermonters and donors across more than 30 states, according to Pieciak.
“The Vermont (Immigration) Legal Defense Fund grant arrived at a critical moment for the refugee and immigrant community we serve,” said Yacouba Jacob Bogre, executive director of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, an organization that works with new Americans, at a Monday press conference. “As many families navigate uncertainty and changing policies, your support provided more than funding — it provided hope, stability and reaffirmation that they are valued members of our government community.”
Just three months into its launch, the fund reported raising $250,000, which was crucial after federal funding cuts impacted the budgets of organizations supporting immigrants with their legal cases.
Pieciak, alongside Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, helped launch the fund.
“Reaching this goal is a testament to what Vermonters can do when they refuse to look away,” Ram Hinsdale said in a Monday press release. “Just as important as the dollars raised is the plan we leave behind — one that ensures people facing detention or separation will not navigate it alone.”
The impact has been especially pronounced at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, a legal services organization that has served more than 300 asylum seekers since its founding in 2021. The number of clients it serves on asylum matters has doubled, from 50 to 100 since 2025, according to executive director Jill Martin Diaz, and the project has screened 130 people detained in Vermont prisons by ICE and secured nine temporary restraining orders.
“We are making incredible progress. We’re doubling our capacity to make sure that our dream is realized,” Diaz said.
Nathan Virag, a staff attorney for the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, said the fund allowed his organization to hire a legal intake coordinator and a legal intern, with hopes of adding another attorney to handle a growing caseload.
“The fund was necessary. Unfortunately, if we didn’t have those funds, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing now,” Virag said.
In Vermont, 1,017 immigration cases remain pending, 45.7% of which have legal representation, up from the 42.8% recorded last summer, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, based on data collected through April.
Because the fund hit its $1 million target, its fundraising work is officially complete, Pieciak said. But the five recipient organizations plan to keep working together. Those organizations include the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, Vermont Legal Aid, Vermont Afghan Alliance, The Janet S. Munt Family Room, and the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at the Vermont Law and Graduate School.
“We’ll continue to work with these organizations as we reimagine the structure and the way in which we work together into the future,” said Jesse Bridges, CEO of United Way of Northwest Vermont, the organization that helped administer the funding. “As you say, the court room is the first step in the journey.”
