A legal defense fund launched a year ago in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has surpassed its fundraising goal of $1 million, Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak announced at a Monday afternoon press conference in Burlington. The funds, most of which have already be en disbursed to six local organizations, have helped bolster Vermont’s small but growing network of immigration attorneys as detentions and deportations have risen across the state.  Pieciak launched the fund in his personal capacity, along with Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden-Southeast) and the United Way of Northwest Vermont. When the fund was launched a few months into the second Trump administration, only two full-time attorneys in Vermont specialized in deportation defense, he said. “We needed more legal resources to make sure that every member of our community felt welcomed, valued and secure in their home here in Vermont,” Pieciak told a small group of journalists and supporters outside the Old North End Community Center. “With that money, we’ve been able to build out that critical legal infrastructure, hiring 13 people across various organizations,” he said. The money came from thousands of individual Vermont donors, as well as donors from more than 30 states, Pieciak said. It was raised through dozens of fundraising events, including house parties, art shows and benefit concerts. Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, said the organization has been able to grow significantly thanks to grants from the fund.  Martin Diaz was the org’s only licensed attorney last May; now it has a staff of 10, with four immigration attorneys. The group has met with 130 people detained in Vermont prisons and in some cases has filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court that have led to their release. “We’ve been so incredibly successful because of the investment of this fund,” Martin Diaz said. “We’re doubling our capacity to make sure that our dream is realized that no one walks the system alone.” Now that the fundraising goal has been met and the money distributed, the fund’s work is complete, Pieciak said. Other grant recipients include the Vermont Afghan Alliance, AALV, Vermont Legal Aid, the Janet S. Munt Family Room, and the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at the Vermont Law Graduate School. The post Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants Surpasses $1 Million Goal appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less