PAIR Project / Detention Program

Detention Program

PAIR’s Detention Program, launched in 1990, is the only immigration legal services program with negotiated access to all three major ICE detention centers in Massachusetts. Last year, PAIR advised and represented over 1,000 immigration detainees who originally came from throughout the world. PAIR accomplishes this work through staff attorneys, fellows, pro bono attorneys from the AILA New England Chapter and private practices, and five law school immigration clinical programs. We give "Know Your Rights" (KYR) Presentations inside the jails; distribute legal materials and PAIR's Self-Help Manual; and represent detainees for release on bond and in their full immigration court case.

This work is critical because there are no free lawyers for immigration cases, unlike in our criminal system. Without legal advice, immigration detainees do not understand their basic rights, may remain unjustly detained for months or years and face the prospect of permanent separation from their U.S. citizen children and spouses. PAIR staff and pro bono attorneys have advised immigration detainees since the Suffolk Downs raid in 1988 which led to PAIR’s formation.

Pro Bono attorneys needed for KYRs

If you would like to volunteer to participate in one of the "Know Your Rights" visits please contact Antonio Castro Aranda at acaranda@pairproject.org as soon as possible.

Upcoming Visits:

Bristol County Correctional Facility

Thursday, February 2
Friday, February 17
Thursday, March 1
Friday, March 23
Friday, April 13

Plymouth County Correctional Facility

Wednesday, February 8
Wednesday, March 7
Wednesday, April 18

Suffolk County House of Corrections

Wednesday, February 15
Wednesday, March 21

Time: five hours (includes travel time & KYR presentation from 8:30 - 1:30)

Upcoming Trainings

Learn about scheduled PAIR trainings in immigration topics and how to RSVP here.

Key Government Contacts

Boston Immigration Court
John F. Kennedy Federal Building
15 New Sudbury Street, Room 320
Boston, MA 02203
(617) 565-3080

DHS Detention and Removal Operations, Burlington Field Office: (781) 359-7500

Immigration Detention in New England:

Barnstable County Correctional Facility
6000 Sheriff's Place
Bourne, MA 02532
(508) 563-4418

Bristol County Correctional Facility
400 Faunce Corner Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747
(508) 995-1311

Cumberland County Jail
50 County Way
Portland, ME 04102
(207) 724-5939

Essex County Correctional Facility
20 Manning Avenue
Middleton, MA 01949
(978) 750-1900

FMC Devens
P.O. Box 879
Ayer, MA 01432
(978) 796-1000

Franklin County Correctional Facility
160 Elm Street
Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 774-4014

Hartford Correctional Center
177 Weston Street
Hartford, CT 06120
(860) 240-1800

Norfolk County
P.O. Box 149, 200 West Street
Dedham, MA 02027
(781) 329-3705

Plymouth County Correctional Facility
26 Long Pond Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 830-6240

Strafford County Department of Corrections
266 County Farm Road
Dover, New Hampshire 03820
(603) 742-3310

Suffolk County House of Corrections
20 Bradston Street
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 635-1000

Recent Victories:

PAIR Pro Bono attorney Marianne Staniunas, Esq., of Ross Silverman LLP, represented a client from El Salvador in bond proceedings, winning release from detention, and then continued representing him in Immigration Court, applying for Temporary Protected Status and a U Visa, as the victim of a crime, and ultimately winning U status for him and his mother.

PAIR Pro Bono attorney Marisa DeFranco, Esq., of the Law Office Of Marisa DeFranco, represented an asylum- seeker from Uganda in Immigration Court, after filing a motion to reopen while the client was in detention. She continued with the challenges of representing her hearing-impaired client upon release and won asylum.

Pro bono attorney George Pappas, assisted by Antonio Castro Aranda of PAIR, won a 212(c) waiver for his client from Ireland.

Pro bono attorneys Thomas Ayres and Neil Austin of Foley Hoag, assisted by Elizabeth Badger, Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor at Boston University Law School , won termination of a removal case for his client based on suppression of evidence due to the egregious Fourth Amendment violation of her rights during the New Bedford raid.

PAIR Detention Attorney Heather Friedman, assisted by Goodwin Procter Fellow Laura Najemy, won termination of a removal case for her Portuguese client, who was not removable as charged.

PAIR Detention Attorney Heather Friedman, assisted by Ropes & Gray Fellow Harsha Pulluru and former Equal Justice Works Fellow Andrea Saenz, won release in federal district court on a habeas corpus petition for their Liberian client, who was wrongfully detained in violation of his constitutional rights.

Pro bono attorney Laura Murray Tjan, Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor at Boston College Law School, won termination of a removal case against her Liberian refugee client who was not deportable or removable.

Pro bono attorney Jill McCain won release under conditional parole - without bond - for her detained client from Mexico, who will now be able to pursue his asylum case outside detention.

PAIR Detention Attorney Heather Friedman and former Goodwin Procter Fellow Natalie Kaminsky won a waiver for their Albanian client, who is now out and living with his family again.

PAIR Detention Attorney Heather Friedman, assisted by Boston College Law Student Sarah Sherman Stokes, won asylum for her Mauritanian client.

PAIR Detention Attorney Heather Friedman, assisted by former Equal Justice Works Fellow Andrea Saenz and Sarah Sherman Stokes of Boston College Law School, won remand from the Board of Immigration Appeals on suppression of evidence for their client.