Seton Hall’s DDDI Eyes 2025 Challenges

With a new presidential administration at the country's helm January 20, 2025, United States deportation defense attorneys are on high alert. President Trump voiced intent to "conduct the largest mass deportation raids in history," on day one of his new term, bringing Seton Hall's grant-driven Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI) to the fore.

DDDI, originally funded in 2018, provides pro bono immigration counsel to indigent New Jerseyans in removal proceedings, and gives Seton Hall Law School extern students opportunities to gain clinical, hands-on experience representing detained and formerly detained noncitizens fighting deportation. The program has expanded significantly in the past few years, says Professor Lori Nessel, director of the Immigrants' Rights/International Human Rights Clinic at Seton Hall, who leads DDDI.

The program operates on a $1 million budget subawarded by Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ), and is supported by Seton Hall Law's Immigrants' Rights/International Human Rights Clinic of the Center for Social Justice, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and Rutgers Newark Law School's Immigrant Rights Clinic.

Nessel works in partnership with Lori Outzs Borgen, director, Center for Social Justice, director of Externships and Pro Bono Service Program, to support DDDI. In recent months, President Trump's deportation narrative and the continued unrest around immigrant affairs has prompted Nessel and many others working in the field to step up their plans to defend and protect immigrant individuals living in the United States who have established lives here and contribute widely to society. "A lot of groups have been reaching out to us saying, "What can we do, how should our immigrant community be getting ready? What should people be doing to plan for possible deportations?" said Borgen.

Plainly put, immigrant families and non-profit human rights immigration organizations are worried. "Broad enforcement policies will affect entire families and communities," Nessel noted. "We're already seeing increased fear in immigrant households, with parents afraid to seek medical care for U.S. citizen children or report crimes."

Professor Nessel, who has been at Seton Hall Law School for 27 years, has long been one of the leading immigration advocates in the state, trained many immigration lawyers and students in clinics and taught immigration classes. She is grateful to have been able to combine advocacy work and teaching for the benefit of both students and clients. "Clinical work is the best of both worlds," she said. "We're saving lives, often through asylum cases, while also mentoring students in their first experiences as lawyers. Seeing their growth is deeply rewarding."

The incoming administration's mass deportation actions can disrupt families, separate children and parents, as well as negatively affect the daily labor workforce throughout the United States, which in many places - like Nebraska - significantly relies upon immigrant workers.

From an apolitical perspective, Nessel and Borgen say, cursory removal is a direct violation of human rights. The DDDI fills a "different niche within the law school and has been doing incredible work; it's really going to be at the heart of the response to the deportation crisis."

Helping to support U.S. citizens in lawful permanent residence is vital for family systems, and Nessel cites problematic rhetoric that indicts all immigrants unfairly. "Part of the problem is that it makes it sound as if there's this separate class of undocumented immigrants," she said, "and they're totally separate from the rest of society, and can be picked up. But in reality, everyone is very mixed together."

At one time, there were a substantial number of New Jersey residents in immigration detention with no representation, recalls Borgen. It was Nessel who worked with a group to put forth a report to the state encouraging financial grant support for programs like the DDDI. "Doing this type of work has always been incredibly important and we've never been able to come near meeting the real need," said Nessel.

In-state detention remains a challenge on a number of levels. For a time, New Jersey moved away from detention, but, says Borgen, given the Trump administration's plans, "There's a big concern going on right now that the federal government is moving back to building and trying to fund more private detention facilities in the state," such as the locally run center by for-profit company CoreCivic. As the state's only detention center in Elizabeth, it holds 300 people, but Borgen and Nessel fear that this number will soon grow with other private companies looking to increase New Jersey's capacity - according to SEC Filings and documents from ICE.

No matter which party is in power, says Borgen, deportation management and proper execution is a recurring issue. "The deportation crisis, and immigration crisis in this country is long standing," noted Borgen. Prior to the current president's plans, and his promises around deportation and border management in his last term, "The Obama administration was deporting a lot of people, [more recently] the Biden administration could've done a lot more than they did."

Notably, the Catholic Church has been an ally on immigrant issues, which gels well with Seton Hall Law's Immigrants' Rights/International Human Rights Clinic of the Center for Social Justice's work. "The Pope has come out in favor of treating people more humanely with refugee crises and people who are seeking asylum," said Nessel, and overall, the "Church has been an important ally on immigration issues, providing strong moral leadership in advocating for humane policies."

Nessel remains committed to the work DDDI continues to do in New Jersey, which has consistently shown a commitment to immigrant rights. "We are fortunate to be in a state that prioritizes the rights of all its residents, regardless of immigration status," she said, as demand for services increases. "It's a very challenging time, but we're rising to the challenge," Nessel said. "We're doing everything we can to protect human rights and ensure dignity for all."

Categories: Law