Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project

The mission of the Florence Project is to provide free legal and social services to detained adults and unaccompanied children facing immigration removal proceedings in Arizona.

The Florence Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal service organization providing free legal and social services to adults and unaccompanied children in immigration custody in Arizona. The government does not provide public defenders to people in immigration detention. As a result, an estimated 86 percent of the detained people go unrepresented due to poverty. The Florence Project strives to address this inequity both locally and nationally through direct service, partnerships with the community, and advocacy and outreach efforts.

Testimonials

"It was the most beautiful support that an immigrant in solitude can have. They were always extending a hand from the outside to try to help us get out with freedom. I felt very supported and we didn't lose hope. - Eugenia, age 25, won asylum after fleeing Cuba.

"I had never been to court before. I was very worried, thinking they wanted to deport me, and because everyone was a stranger," says Sonia, a young woman who migrated from Guatemala alone at age 16 . But the Florence Project lawyers were with me. They did everything possible to win my case." Sonia recently received legal permanent residency and had her first child! "I trusted the Florence Project a lot," she says, "and this is the result of the work of all those who supported me."