Identifying Opportunities to Improve the Network of Immigration Legal Services Providers

Abstract

Immigration legal services providers (ISPs) are a principal source of support for low-income immigrants seeking immigration benefits. Yet there is scant quantitative evidence on the prevalence and geographic distribution of ISPs in the United States. To fill this gap, we construct a comprehensive, nationwide database of 2,138 geocoded ISP offices that offer low- or no-cost legal services to low-income immigrants. We use spatial optimization methods to analyze the geographic network of ISPs and measure ISPs’ proximity to the low-income immigrant population. Because both ISPs and immigrants are highly concentrated in major urban areas, most low-income immigrants live close to an ISP. However, we also find a sizable fraction of low-income immigrants in underserved areas, which are primarily in midsize cities in the South. This reflects both a general skew in non-governmental organization service provision and the more recent arrival of immigrants in these largely Southern destinations. Finally, our opti- mization analysis suggests significant gains from placing new ISPs in underserved areas to maximize the number of low-income immigrants who live near an ISP. Overall, our results provide vital information to immigrants, funders, and policymakers about the current state of the ISP network and opportunities to improve it.

Making noncitizens' rights real: Evidence from immigration scam complaints

“…If made publicly available in a searchable format, this information could also assist immigrants in search of assistance. Efforts to document which communities and organizations provide welcoming (Huang & Liu, 2016) and immigrant‐friendly (Smith & Schmitt‐Sands, 2021) services for local communities in the nonprofit (Yasenov et al, 2020) and public sectors (Williams, 2015) could also help identify gaps in assistance and catalog programs and organizations that warrant investment.…”

“…Immigrants seeking legal services can search for service providers in their communities-by location, language, populations served, and immigration specialties-using online directories. (Yasenov et al, 2020) and public sectors (Williams, 2015) could also help identify gaps in assistance and catalog programs and organizations that warrant investment.…”

“…Legal aid capacity is a proxy for access to justice in immigrant communities. Following work on nonprofit capacity (Chand et al, 2020; Gleeson, 2009, 2015; Gleeson & Bloemraad, 2013; Joassart‐Marcelli, 2013; Martínez‐Schuldt, 2020; McVeigh et al, 2003; Yasenov et al, 2020), I manually construct a nationwide county‐level measure of legal aid capacity specific to immigrant‐serving nonprofits. I use a list of organizations that represent immigrants from the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) “Recognized Organizations and Accredited Representatives Roster” (Executive Office for Immigration Review, 2021) and supplement it with additional sources: National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) data queried by de Leon and Roach (2013), the Immigration Advocacy Network (Immigration Advocates Network, 2021), and a list of Catholic Legal Immigration Network members vi .…”

Spatial and Sociodemographic Vulnerability: Quantifying Accessibility to Health Care and Legal Services for Immigrants in California, Arizona, and Nevada

“…These organizations use private donations, fees, and other resources to fill gaps in the U.S. safety net, and they receive contracts from federal, state, and local governments, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as the delegated welfare state (Morgan and Campbell 2011;Salamon 1995;Smith and Lipsky 1993;Weir and Schirmer 2018). 2 In one study of the San Francisco Bay area in 2019, 1 But see Yasenov et al (2020) for a different simulation method, done at the level of ZIP codes across the entire country.…”

Charitable Legal Immigration Programs and the US Undocumented Population: A Study in Access to Justice in an Era of Political Dysfunction

“…A 2020 study by Stanford University's Immigration Policy Lab drew on the DOJ/EOIR roster, IAN's directory, and immigrant-serving agencies in the Aunt Bertha social service search and referral platform to identify 2,138 “immigrant legal service provider” (ISP) offices (Yasenov et al 2020). The study compared the location of these offices, with ACS data by zip code on low-income foreign-born persons; i.e., those living in households with income of less than 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.…”