1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

Our state should set up a public defender program for immigration courts, so everyone faced with deportation can get a lawyer. Right now, two-thirds of people going through these proceedings are forced to deal with this system alone. We are seeing too many mistakes and too many injustices. Our friends and family, our neighbors and coworkers are being targeted more and more. Once they’re caught up in the system, many of them don’t have the resources to get legal aid. And they’re getting treated unfairly. Some of them are taken away from their homes, separated from their families and sent to places where they’re in danger when a lawyer would have been able to help them. Universal representation is a right for people in the criminal justice system, and it should be a right for those who just want a better life for themselves, too.