TNJFON expanding access to justice through Immigration Court representation

Thanks to new Senior Staff Attorney Emily Stotts, TNJFON is expanding our practice to include full representation before the Memphis Immigration Court! TNJFON is one of just five not-for-profit law firms offering full representation for Davidson County residents before this Court.  

Emily joined the team in September with 10 years of experience practicing immigration law including affirmative cases before USCIS and defensive cases before the Memphis Immigration Court. Prior to joining TNJFON, she led the immigration practice group at the Memphis non-profit Community Legal Center. 

Left: Senior Staff Attorney Emily Stotts joined TNJFON in September. Right: Emily will be based in First Congregational Church in Memphis.

Emily will be based in Memphis, allowing her to represent Davidson County residents in defensive cases before the Memphis Immigration Court. This represents a significant expansion of TNJFON’s Immigration Court work, which was previously limited to initial hearings and a motions practice seeking termination of removal proceedings for clients eligible for affirmative relief such as U visas, T visas, and Special Immigrant Juvenile status. “Emily brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to TNJFON. We are incredibly fortunate to have her on staff,” says Legal Director Bethany Jackson. “Davidson County residents will benefit tremendously from this expansion of representation.”  

Because demand is high and resources are scarce, Emily will provide removal defense representation for clients eligible for relief such as defensive asylum, withholding of removal, and cancellation of removal. Since joining TNJFON, Emily has accepted 11 clients for representation in removal defense cases.  

“Defensive representation is a central component to ensuring fairness in immigration court proceedings,” says Emily. “As the number of individuals facing removal increases, it’s critical that we continue to strive for greater access to defensive representation.”

Immigration is a civil matter; unlike in criminal proceedings, there is no right to legal representation in Immigration Court for those who cannot afford it. Just 37% of those in removal proceedings nationwide have representation in Immigration Court despite the potentially devastating consequences of a removal (deportation) order. Davidson County has the most Tennessee residents with pending cases in immigration court, and just under 20% of those individuals have legal representation. 

Bilingual Administrative Assistant María Elena Villalobos answers calls almost every day from people seeking defensive representation.

TNJFON Bilingual Administrative Assistant María Elena Villalobos is the first point of contact for potential clients and has long seen the urgent need for defensive representation. “We receive inquiries almost every day from people looking for defensive representation,” she says. “Even now, our limited capacity means we have to refer the majority of them to Memphis non-profits or private law firms.” 

Individuals in removal proceedings face not only a complex web of procedures and laws but also high-stake consequences such as possible separation from family members or being sent back to life-threatening conditions in their countries of origin. Those able to secure representation are as much as five times more likely to succeed in Immigration Court. 

Efforts to implement universal representation are underway nationwide, most notably the Fairness to Freedom Act introduced in Congress. The policy would establish a right to representation in removal proceedings at government expense for those who cannot afford it. To support equal access to justice, contact your Congresspeople and ask them to support the Fairness to Freedom Act.

“Removal defense has been a long term vision for our organization but because of cost and limited capacity we had not been able to do that,” says Executive Director Tessa Lemos Del Pino. “With the expansion of our capacity through the Metropolitan Davidson County grant awarded in 2022, we have strengthened our ability to keep Nashville families together.”