Jailed immigrants in the Chicago pipeline who land a MIDA attorney are beating the odds in immigration court, according to a new randomized study that is turning heads in legal circles. Those with representation were roughly 4.7 times as likely to win relief from deportation and nearly half again as likely to secure release on bond compared with similar detainees who went without counsel.
The three‑year report from the Vera Institute of Justice looked at more than 3,000 immigration court cases from March 2022 through May 2025. Researchers found that having a lawyer increased a person’s chances of being granted relief by 366 percent and boosted the odds of release on bond by 46 percent. The study also estimates that access to the Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA) produced 22 percent more case outcomes that allowed people to stay in the United States. Vera describes the evaluation as the first randomized study of a universal representation program and says the findings hold up across changes in presidential administrations and shifting immigration rules.
MIDA was created in 2022 by the National Immigrant Justice Center, The Resurrection Project, The Immigration Project, and the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, and uses a merits‑blind rotating intake system that assigns attorneys to detained people at their first hearing. The coalition has since grown to seven member organizations and roughly 40 legal advocates, and now covers Illinois residents who are detained out of state, according to reporting by the Davis Vanguard. Local defenders say that early access to counsel, not cherry‑picking strong cases, is what flips the outcomes.
Who MIDA Reached
Vera’s data show that MIDA clients came from 33 countries and spoke at least 18 primary languages. Sixty‑eight percent were employed in the year before detention and, among employed clients with families, 76 percent were the primary breadwinners. Nearly half of clients with family information lived with children under 18, and 79 percent of those children were U.S. citizens. Advocates say those numbers highlight that deportation decisions are also decisions about household income and family stability, not just legal fine print.
Policy and the Push for Universal Counsel
Advocates argue that the randomized results strengthen the case for publicly funded deportation defense and give lawmakers clearer evidence to weigh. The Vera Institute and the National Partnership for New Americans co‑lead the Fairness to Freedom campaign, which is pushing Congress to create a universal right to government‑funded counsel, according to Partnership for New Americans. MIDA partners and other defenders say this study should help turn research into actual budget lines and programs that widen access to attorneys.
For Chicago, the report functions as both proof and leverage. MIDA organizers say they plan to use the findings to press for steady funding and broader replication across other detained dockets. Vera’s evaluation offers randomized evidence that lawyers themselves, not just differences in cases, are driving the better outcomes that advocates have been pointing to for years.
