Posted on July 19, 2022

Liberal Group Lands $171M Gov’t Contract That Could Reach $1B to Help Illegal Immigrants Avoid Deportation

Joe Schoffstall and Adam Shaw, Fox News, July 14, 2022

A left-wing nonprofit working to end mass incarceration landed a $171.7 million taxpayer-funded government contract that could potentially hit $1 billion to help unaccompanied minors avoid deportation, Fox News Digital has discovered.

The Vera Institute of Justice, a New York-based group that supports defunding police and views immigration enforcement agencies as a “threat” to civil liberties, was awarded a Health and Human Services-funded contract in March to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied minors, according to a federal database.

The arrangement lasts until March 2023 but can reach as high as $983 million if renewed until March 2027, the agreement shows. This appears to be the largest federal contract Vera has secured for immigration-related services for any single year dating back to the mid-2000s.

The lofty nine-figure contract came amid an escalating border crisis that saw more than 239,000 migrant encounters in May alone — a historic high. There were 14,699 encounters of unaccompanied minors in May, an increase from the 12,180 encountered in April and slightly higher than the 14,052 encountered in May 2021.

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The institute seeks to end “mass incarceration” by cutting down on the number of jails, prisons and detention centers in the United States. The group has also signaled support for defunding police.

Additionally, Vera conducts “on-the-ground work” with progressive prosecutor offices to help them “implement policies and build evidence that limiting the number of people who enter the criminal legal system and centering racial equity makes the public safer,” according to its website.

The institute also launched the “Motion for Justice” campaign, in which they work with prosecutor offices and community-based groups to “improve safety by creating diversion programs” that focus on racial equity.

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