Our immigrant neighbors are at risk. The U.S. immigration process is challenging even in the best of times. With aggressive changes to immigration policies and procedures over the past year, low-income immigrants now face an even more precarious process to achieve immigration relief and receive lasting legal status in the United States. Civil legal aid helps tremendously, but we need your financial support to ensure that we can continue to represent low-income immigrant clients and families when they need legal protection the most.
The Need – Now
Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) has maintained a specialty in immigration law for over a century. We are the largest civil legal aid organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serving members of our community who cannot afford a lawyer but need legal help to address important non-criminal legal issues, such as immigration, housing, workers’ rights, and more. For over 125 years, we have been effective at fighting for our clients’ rights and freedoms.
The current federal administration has made GBLS’ and other immigration advocates’ work much harder. Immigration cases are often long and drawn out, and now they are especially scrutinized and challenged, with additional barriers put in place to keep immigrants – especially families and individuals with low or limited incomes – from achieving justice.
Immigration courts have made a shift toward requiring complex country conditions reports, expert testimony, and reams of supplemental evidence to demonstrate an individual or family’s claim to asylum or other forms of immigration relief. Moreover, the fee schedule imposed at every stage of immigration proceedings has increased dramatically, making applying for permanent legal status or other forms of relief even more difficult. For instance, the fee for appealing a claim to the Board of Immigration Appeals – the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws – was previously $100 but now costs tenfold as much at $1,010. By making lawful immigration relief increasingly unaffordable, the federal government has made it even harder for low-income immigrant households to survive.
Who We Are Helping
GBLS’ immigrant clients are hard-working members of our community, many of whom have been in the United States for years. They have built lives for themselves in our region, started families, created businesses, paid taxes, and been productive and contributing members of our communities. Others are newer arrivals, coming to the Boston area in search of safety and stability after fleeing dangerous conditions in their country of origin. The promise of the United States has, since the country’s founding, been to provide a safe haven and a fresh start for people who are forced to leave their homes, often under immeasurable duress, but today, the government is making that less and less accessible.
GBLS’ clients, who must have low and limited incomes to qualify for GBLS’ free legal assistance, frequently scrimp and save to pay for their USCIS applications and other fees. While GBLS’ services are provided completely free of charge, when clients can save enough money or get help from friends and family to pay their fees, they do so. But not all clients have these support systems or are able to save enough to cover the fees. For those who cannot afford the ancillary costs of their immigration case, GBLS steps in to help cover litigation costs, which may include application and filing fees, expert testimony, background reports, and more. Unless GBLS can successfully apply for and secure a fee waiver, which is only available in limited cases, these expenses are non-negotiable and must be paid in order to advance the goals of the case and achieve immigration relief for our clients. Simply put, without these costs being covered, there is no case. With the increased requirements associated with immigration cases, as well as an overall increase in demand for services, GBLS is absorbing greater expenses to effectively represent our clients. These cost increases threaten our ability to carry out our work.
How We Are Responding
In response to the increased need for civil legal aid for our low-income immigrant community members, GBLS has pursued and been awarded additional grant funding and private donations to allow us to hire more immigration attorneys and paralegals. We now have more boots on the ground to help us meet this moment. We are also working strategically to share our knowledge and skills with community partners and organizers, conducting more know-your-rights training sessions for partner agencies and community members, holding legal consultations and clinics, and leveraging the energy and expertise of volunteers and pro bono attorneys to increase our capacity. But increased litigation expenses jeopardize our ability to respond to this moment on behalf of our immigrant clients.
Clients like Carlos, who came to the U.S. seeking refuge after experiencing political persecution in his home country of Colombia. Shortly after coming to the U.S., Carlos was diagnosed with advanced cancer of the bone marrow. He came to GBLS hoping for assistance in filing for asylum. Carlos’ GBLS attorneys helped him submit an asylum application and accepted his
case for full representation, recognizing the urgency of securing him immigration relief. However, with USCIS ramping up immigration enforcement, Carlos was unexpectedly placed in expedited removal proceedings, effectively negating his asylum claim and putting him at risk of removal to his home country. Carlos was ordered to present himself to the asylum office to undergo a credible fear interview proving his fear of returning to Colombia. His attorney submitted a legal memorandum opposing the asylum office’s application of their expedited removal policy in Carlos’s case. She subsequently prepared him for and accompanied him to the credible fear interview. Carlos passed his interview and GBLS is continuing to support his asylum application so that he can focus on recovering from cancer.
*Client’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.
How You Can Help
In order to effectively serve our immigrant clients who cannot afford to absorb the costs associated with their urgent, life-changing cases, we are seeking $100,000 in additional funding in 2026 to support our newly launched Immigration Litigation Fund. Every dollar counts. Here are some examples of the costs we are seeking help to cover:
| USCIS Fee | Cost per client |
| Lawful Permanent Resident Status application fee (EOIR I-485) | $2,940 |
| Board of Immigration Appeal – to bring a case to the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws | $1,010 |
| Employment Authorization Document (EAD) application fee – needed in order to work and have income | $550 |
| Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Petition – for unaccompanied minors and youth | $250 |
| Asylum application fees – needed to apply and then annually to maintain the asylum application with USCIS while it is pending | $100/year with cases lasting many years |
| Additional Litigation Expenses | Cost per client |
| Expert evaluations – including mental and physical health evaluations | $3,000+ |
| Country conditions reports | Currently being met through a pro bono partnership |
By supporting GBLS, our clients, and our new Immigration Litigation Fund, you can help your neighbors right now in our community. Stand with us to make a difference at this pivotal moment – to fight for justice, fairness, and for the rights and dignity of our neighbors and friends.