Our Mission
Our mission is to advocate on behalf of and with immigrants through interprofessional collaborations that provide comprehensive and holistic legal representation, community education initiatives, and proactive data-driven responses to challenge immigration enforcement efforts.
What We Do
Mariposa Legal aims to achieve our mission through three projects initially:
(1) providing direct legal representation for Indiana residents who are detained in ICE custody before the Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals (Executive Office of Immigration Review), conduct know-your-rights presentations in detention, and providing referrals for community services;
(2) laying the groundwork for Mariposa’s community-engaged research approach that centers those most vulnerable, amplifies immigrant voices and experiences, and documents serious human rights and due process violations to promote government accountability, slated to start in autumn 2020;
(3) building our mental health project to provide representation for individuals with serious mental illness and cognitive impairments in immigration courts around the US.
Why is it called “Mariposa” Legal?
Mariposa (pronounced mar·e·po·sa) means “butterfly” in Spanish and is a symbol for free migration across borders. Our goal was to call ourselves by a name that evokes our mission both visually and verbally (and avoid yet another non-profit acronym!). While we chose a word in Spanish, we do work with all immigrant residents of Indiana regardless of what language they speak or what country they are from! However, we did start Mariposa with the recognition that there is a significant gap in legal services for many of our Latino neighbors in Indiana who are detained in the custody of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Thanks to Jamie for creating our logo for us!
What is the relationship between COMMON Foundation and Mariposa Legal?
In January 2020, the COMMON Foundation accepted Mariposa into COMMON’s non-profit incubator and became Mariposa’s “fiscal sponsor,” which means that Mariposa Legal was created as a program of the COMMON Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. “Fiscal Sponsorship” refers to the practice of nonprofit organizations offering their legal and tax-exempt status to groups engaged in research, projects and activities relating to and furthering the missions of the sponsoring nonprofit organization. Fiscal sponsorship programs help smaller charitable projects for which it is not practical or cost effective to maneuver the lengthy process of establishing a separate nonprofit corporation. COMMON Foundation received the 2021 Platinum Seal of Transparency from the Foundation Center’s Guidestar for Non-Profits. We are so thankful to get to work with the COMMON Foundation team!
