RAPID DEFENSE NETWORK provides rapid legal representation on a pro bono basis to immigrants facing unlawful and imminent detention or deportation. By leveraging partnerships with well-resourced leading law firms and law school clinics, mentoring their teams of attorneys on the successful legal techniques pioneered by Rapid Defense Network, we are able to efficiently and relentlessly address the soaring demand for our services.
OUR STORY
Rapid Defense Network (RDN) launched in January 2019 as an innovative legal services organization dedicated to providing rapid pro bono legal assistance to non-citizens facing imminent deportation or detention.
Over 1 million non-citizens without current immigration status in the United States have final orders of removal. This is approximately 10% of all non-citizens without status. Many are unaware that they were ordered removed because the government frequently fails to provide notice of immigration court hearings. The Trump Administration’s systematic crackdown on immigration has put these vulnerable community members at a heightened risk of detention and deportation without any semblance of due process: without notice, warning, or an opportunity to challenge being torn from their communities – even though many individuals have strong claims to protection from removal. The government has also employed increasingly aggressive and clandestine tactics to carry out this mandate.
To combat these efforts, RDN has made it its mission to provide rapid legal defense to protect non-citizens who are detained or on a fast-track to be deported. RDN is unique because of our lawyer's expertise in emergency litigation, their innovative legal techniques that are now being replicated nation-wide, and their willingness to take on – and win – cases that most others refuse.