Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance

In 2021, four Illinois organizations came together around a problem none could solve alone: expanding access to legal representation for immigrants facing detention and deportation.

The organizations started from very different places. One had an established detained defense program. Others were building detained representation capacity for the first time. They had different staffing levels, funding structures, institutional cultures, and areas of expertise.

Building MIDA meant creating a shared model while helping each organization become capable of participating in it.

Katherine represented The Resurrection Project in the interorganizational planning that shaped the collaborative's intake model while also building TRP's internal capacity to participate. Danielle was doing the same within The Immigration Project. That included hiring an attorney, paralegal, and social services coordinator, training staff, securing new funding, and restructuring supervision so she could focus on building the new program.

Together, the organizations created a rotating, merits-blind intake model that distributed representation based on eligibility rather than perceived case strength.

What began with four organizations has grown to eight. A three-year evaluation by the Vera Institute of Justice found that representation through MIDA increased the likelihood of relief by 366% and release on bond by 46%.

What we built

• Shared intake and referral infrastructure

• Collaborative program design

• Organizational capacity for participation

• Funding and resource allocation structures

• Systems for working across independent organizations

What this taught us

A collaboration is only as strong as the structures that allow organizations to work together. Shared purpose matters. So do roles, resources, decision-making, capacity, and trust.