Now in our 13th year of service, New England Justice for Our Neighbors provides free, expert legal aid to Massachusetts immigrants seeking humanitarian-based visas. Our clients include unaccompanied minors, asylum applicants, and victims of violence.

Our work helps families stay together, victims of violence escape further harm, asylum seekers find a safe haven, and unaccompanied minors begin a new, more promising future. The effects of legal status ripple out from our clients themselves to the rest of their households and eventually to additional generations.

We are proud to be an affiliate of the Immigration Law & Justice Network.

We currently represent over 150 clients in their ongoing immigration cases at no cost to them.
We accept approximately 20% of our new clients each year for full representation throughout the duration of their cases, which can take years to complete. Our remaining new clients receive legal immigration consultation and advice. This trustworthy advice is especially valuable because it allows our clients to avoid predatory lawyers who take their cases (and their money) even if they are without merit.

Without free legal services such as ours, undocumented immigrants have limited options. Living without legal status (and, therefore, work authorization) means lower income, a lack of healthcare and other public benefits, susceptibility to unscrupulous employers, and a life of fear. Private immigration lawyers charge thousands of dollars for these types of complex cases, money our clients don’t have. Meanwhile, appearing in court without a lawyer reduces the chances of a successful outcome by up to 80%, even if the case has merit. For our low- and no-income clients, free legal aid is a true lifeline.

Over the past 11 years, we have served hundreds of clients, helping them obtain safety, security, self-sufficiency, and justice. Our clients have faced unspeakable hardship and exhibited extraordinary bravery and resourcefulness to reach our doors, and we are proud to be able to help them take this momentous next step in their journey.

We serve asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors, and victims of violence, such as gang violence, human trafficking, and domestic violence. In 2022, approximately 40% of our full-representation clients were asylum seekers, and approximately 50% were unaccompanied minors. We served 159 new clients – 127 consultation clients and 32 full-representation clients. We closed 18 full -representation cases and continued work on 115 open cases.

Our 2022 clients came to us predominantly from the Americas (North America: 33%; Central America: 28%; South America: 25%). 17% of these clients are originally from Guatemala, 17% from Haiti, and 12% from Brazil. In total, our 2022 new clients represented 30 countries. Our 2022 clients live in 33 cities and towns across Massachusetts, with Worcester, Lynn, Springfield, and Lawrence making up just over half of the total.

As the immigration state of emergency continues in Massachusetts, demand for immigrant services, including immigrant legal services, has only increased, and we are here to help as many people and families as possible.

Both our Advice & Advocacy program and our Pathway to Hope program can be reached at New England Justice for Our Neighbor’s main phone number:

855-635-8781
(855-NE-JUST-1)

In addition, our Advice & Advocacy legal clinics can be reached directly at the numbers listed below.  Please contact the clinic corresponding to your town/city of residence.  Advice & Advocacy clinics are by appointment only.  Please note that our phones are not answered live. Leave a message or send a text in the language of your choice, and intake personnel will get back to you.

Central Massachusetts Clinic: 978-400-2126
Northeastern Massachusetts Clinic: 617-794-7024
Western Massachusetts Clinic: 413-386-9951

We serve all immigrants regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, ideology, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Like any nonprofit organization, we only succeed because of the partnership of supporters, volunteers, and other organizations.

Please consider making a donation. We’re happy to receive one-time donations or to welcome you as an Access Ally monthly donor. To discuss a contribution from a DAF or including New England JFON in your will, please click here.

To host a fundraiser on behalf of New England Justice for Our Neighbors, contact us here.

We are always seeking volunteers with a wide range of skills, and experience is not necessarily required. Click here to be taken to our volunteer interest form.

To stay connected with New England Justice for Our Neighbors, subscribe to our newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

You can review our newsletters here and Impact Reports here.

Yosselin is a young woman from Guatemala who was abandoned by her father as an infant. Yosselin’s uncle was registered as her father on her birth certificate because it was improper for a child to not have a father in her culture. Yosselin never knew her real father and grew up living in extreme poverty with a mother who barely made enough to survive. As she got older, gang members started threatening Yosselin so that she would become “their woman.” Yosselin refused, both because of her Christian values and because she knew that young women who become romantic partners of gang members are often forced to commit crimes and are often raped and murdered. She fled to the United States to escape this violence and extreme poverty and to pursue her dream of continuing her studies.

With the help of New England Justice for Our Neighbors and the Northeast Justice Center, Yosselin was able to work with the Probate and Family Court and untangle her complex family history. The

official finding that she had been abandoned by her true father made her eligible for a Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa. Now Yosselin has obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile status and is awaiting the availability of the corresponding visa that will allow her to become a permanent resident of the United States and obtain the security and educational opportunities she deserves.

“Adriana” and her 7-year-old daughter “Rosa” came to the U.S. from a region in Guatemala beset by rampant crime, crippling poverty, and food insecurity. Despite Rosa’s youth and the many dangers on the way, Adriana made the brave decision to make the arduous journey. Shortly after her arrival, Adriana fainted at work and was rushed to the hospital. After a long series of tests and painful diagnostic procedures, she was diagnosed with terminal renal disease, meaning that both of her kidneys had failed.

At the same time, Adriana and Rosa were facing deportation. If returned to Guatemala, Adriana would not be able to continue receiving the medical treatment she needed to stay alive and support her daughter.

After several months of advocacy by Adriana’s NEJFON attorney at the Northeast Justice Center, the Department of Homeland Security agreed to dismiss the case against Adriana and young Rosa in light of Adriana’s unique and terrifying circumstances. Now they can remain in the United States without the imminent threat of deportation. “Your office, your work, and you as a person have been the best I could hope to find to fight my case,” Adriana told her attorney.

Thanks to Adriana’s courage and initiative, and the expert legal services provided by New England JFON and its legal partner, Adriana can now focus on her health and Rosa’s well-being instead of the threat of deportation. In situations like Adriana’s, legal services can truly be life-altering – and even life-saving.”

We are grateful for the generous support of our institutional partners and grantors.

Immigration Law and Justice Network (formerly National Justice for Our Neighbors) George & Louise J. Hauser Charitable Trust

George Lucas Charitable Fund of Calvary Church

New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund New England Annual Conference of the UMC

United Methodist Foundation of New England

To contact New England Justice for Our Neighbors, please email us at info@newenglandjfon.org or fill out the contact form below.