Dalia Pedro Trujillo

The Project

Dalia (she/her/hers/ella) will work alongside Immigrant Justice Idaho (IJI) to provide direct legal immigration services to individuals in rural communities of Idaho who seek asylum or are in removal proceedings.

Idaho is home to residents in small rural communities who struggle to access legal services, particularly immigration services. This project seeks to breach the gap in need and focus on removal defense and defensive asylum cases. The need for representation of these cases is high and these individuals are least likely to be represented due to many reasons, such as a lack of funds, unaccessible information and services, and isolation in small rural towns where services are not available.

Dalia’s personal experiences drive her passion for this project. After college, Dalia worked with families in rural communities, which motivated her to pursue law school and inspired this project. She looks forward to working with communities in Idaho and expanding access to immigration legal services.

Fellowship Plans

Dalia’s project has two central components: to increase the number of rural residents in Idaho who receive IJI deportation defense services and to train trusted partners in geographically diverse communities to make referrals to IJI. Dalia will renew outreach to rural communities and expand IJI’s pilot referral project to a majority of the counties in Idaho. This effort, in addition to a revival of safely conducted in-person outreach to rural communities, is expected to drive more cases to IJI and deliver needed immigration expertise to those who serve the IJI constituent community.