Organization Overview
Safe Passage Project (SPP) is a highly-focused nonprofit immigration legal services organization that provides free lawyers to immigrant children facing deportation. Founded in 2013, SPP has grown to include 60+ employees, two offices, and an annual budget of over $10 million. It manages over 1,600 open cases a year.
To date, SPP has supported more than 3,000 young people in NYC and Long Island. The New York Immigration Courts, some of the busiest immigration courts in the U.S., have more than 15,000 juveniles on their dockets, many of whom are fleeing trauma in their countries of origin such as gang violence and recruitment, abuse, and sexual assault. Immigrant children are not afforded free legal representation by the government, regardless of their age. As a result, more than half of immigrant children in immigration proceedings must go to court without the aid of a lawyer. Among unaccompanied children with legal representation, immigr...