Southeast Minnesota Immigrant Legal Defense

Our initial fiscal sponsor, the Diversity Council, has ceased operation. Please donate to us through the website of our current fiscal sponsor, the Rochester Area Foundation, using this link: https://rochesteraf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4069 .

Thanks for your support!

Due to the change in fiscal sponsorship (formerly, the Diversity Council), we need our supporters to wait patiently for a few weeks while we figure this out. But thanks for thinking of us.

Southeastern Minnesota Interfaith Immigrant Legal Defense (SMIILD) still will need your help to continue our immigrant legal defense fund, AND to help pay bail for people in ICE detention who are bond eligible. 

We are people of faith organized for justice. Our legal defense fund provides a fair hearing for local people at risk of deportation. We level the playing field in immigration proceedings where attorneys represent the government but where low-income individuals lack representation. The consequences can include imprisonment and deportation, destroying families and disrupting communities. National studies have found that undocumented immigrants with legal counsel were 10 times more likely to be granted legal residency than those without.  

Our faiths compel us to acknowledge the humanity of all people and to work toward justice as a moral imperative. As one of our donors wrote, "These national issues affect my local neighbors and community ... Thank you." The immigrant legal defense fund is a reality. We have succeeded in providing justice. For more information, see our website at www.smiild.org. 

Counting direct donations, we have raised over $125,000 so far toward our goal!

Thank you for your support!