Welcome Our New Staff!
In the past few months we have been joined by a number of fantastic new staff members! Meet the staff who have started with us since March 2022: Favio Gonzales (he/him) – Communications Associate Originally from Peru, Favio received a B.A. in Audiovisual Communication at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC), and is currently […]
Read moreFarmville ICE Detention Center Lawsuit – Settlement
Federal Court Settlement Places Strict Limits on ICE Detention at ICA-Farmville WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a settlement agreement on claims for injunctive relief was reached in Santos Garcia et al. v. Wolf et al., a case filed by the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP on […]
Read moreThe Fight to Prevent Presumptions Against Bail
When the Governor recently introduced a budget amendment that would reinstate presumptions against bail, we fought back. The Pretrial Justice Coalition (which LAJC is a founding member of) helped to repeal the presumptions in 2021 and knew defending the victory was key to continuing to make our pretrial system more just. We asked for the […]
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Veto Session Update – 2022 Legislative Session
Every legislative session in Virginia culminates in a brief “Reconvene” or “Veto” session where the General Assembly considers any vetoes or amendments from the Governor. On April 27th, legislators gathered to act on approximately 100 bills that Gov. Youngkin proposed amending, as well as 26 bills that he vetoed. Several of those bills directly implicated our […]
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LAJC/Youth Justice Program’s statement on HB 1197
Virginia has received national attention in recent years for shifting its approach to juvenile justice from a punitive, carceral system to a more rehabilitative, restorative, and community-based model. The bipartisan passage of HB 1197 continues this trajectory by establishing a stakeholder workgroup to initiate the transfer of the Department of Juvenile Justice from under the […]
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Statement – Gov. Youngkin’s Vetoes of HB573 & SB279
Outstanding bills for medical treatment are one of the leading causes of debt and bankruptcy, and medical debt is one of the most common debts for which Virginians are sued. Governor Youngkin’s vetoes of Del. Clark’s HB573 and Sen. Deeds’ SB297 have derailed critical, popular, and thoughtfully crafted bipartisan consumer debt reforms for thousands upon […]
Read moreWelcome Our New Staff!
In the past few months we have been joined by a number of fantastic new staff members! Meet the staff who have started with us since October 2021: Hannah Flamm (she/her) – Attorney, Immigrant Advocacy Program Hannah Flamm joined the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program as an immigration attorney in 2021. Previously, she […]
Read moreOur Letter Urging Closure of ICA-Farmville
Today, 109 organizations, coalitions, and law firms from Virginia and around the country, including LAJC, joined together to demand that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas close the privatized ICE detention center in Farmville, Virginia and release every detained immigrant. You can read the letter here. For over a decade, Farmville has been a site of well-documented abuse, mistreatment, and medical neglect of immigrants in custody. After ICE […]
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