Safe City Baltimore: A Model for Publicly Funded Coordinated Legal Services for Immigrants
Safe City Baltimore: A Model for Publicly Funded Coordinated Legal Services for Immigrants
Room 348: 9:45 AM to 11:00 AM
The City of Baltimore has publicly funded legal resources for immigrants continually since 2017 to ensure due process for all. With the increasing threats to immigrant communities and an infusion of two million dollars in public funding, the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) relaunched and expanded Safe City Baltimore in 2025. The multitier model offers legal resources to immigrants at any level of interaction with immigration enforcement – those who are non-detained, at-risk of detention, or detained. In this session, we will focus on a hotline operated by the ABA that represents a unique approach to legal service coordination and delivery. The ABA-operated hotline conducts initial intakes and screenings for legal relief and then assigns those with viable cases to a network of immigration legal service providers. PBRC both accepts referrals from the hotline and conducts intakes at the Baltimore Immigration Court. MIMA oversaw the project and coordinated outreach and collaboration with other Safe City Baltimore providers. At the time of the panel, the hotline will have been operational less than one year, and we will share both successes and lessons learned in hopes that the project may serve as a model for other jurisdictions.
Panelists:
- Catalina Rodriguez Lima, Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
- Kelly Rojas, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Detained Adult Program
- Adonia Simpson, American Bar Association Commission on Immigration
Moderator: Catherine H. Scenna, Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland