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Meet Larry Sandigo of the Florence Project in Phoenix

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Larry Sandigo.

Larry, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story begins with that of my family. My family, much like those who I now serve as an immigration attorney, sought freedom from persecution and a better life in America. “My” story is actually our story, because my journey is intrinsically wedded to theirs.

My paternal grandparents fled political persecution in their home country and settled in Arizona after receiving asylum. Like generations of immigrants before them, my family began their new life with almost nothing. My grandfather, formerly a judge and government official, began working under the heat of the Arizona sun to provide for his family. My family fiercely embraced their new American life and pursued their own American dream. My family became comprised of doctors, professors, teachers, and business owners. In time, my grandfather went from being a ranch hand to owning a sprawling horse ranch in southern Arizona. With this familial story of the American dream, I inherited a deep appreciation for this country and for Arizona.

My mother immigrated to America as an adult. She came alone, armed with the belief that hard work and determination would produce for her a better life in her new country. Alongside many other immigrant women, my mother helped make Arizona great. For many years, she labored in the fields of Yuma, picking grapes, lettuce, and other produce. Agriculture is an integral part of Arizona’s identity and its contribution to the nation and world, but it requires the legions of immigrants who toil in its fields. Not speaking any English, my mother enrolled at Arizona Western College, and learned to read, write, and speak English.

My family’s history drove me to my current profession as an immigration attorney. Having grown up in Arizona, I wanted to explore somewhere new for my education. I went out of state for college and then moved to Boston, ultimately graduating from Boston College Law School. After several years on the East Coast, I moved back home to Arizona. Since graduation, I have been practicing immigration law exclusively and have had the honor of representing hundreds of families from many nations. These families remind me of my own family and their pursuit for a new and better life; a vision our nation has long promised to immigrants and upon which our nation was founded. It has been such a meaningful opportunity to partner with our newest citizens. I see the American dream, born over and over again. This beautiful side of our immigration system, however, is often overshadowed by its brokenness.

Along with seeing families begin their new lives in America, I have also witnessed the gross injustices of the immigration system. The system that has brought families together has also torn them apart. While in private practice, I began to represent more and more indigent people in immigration detention, children and adults. Although I had a robust pro bono practice, as a private attorney I couldn’t do this work full-time. The importance of serving others, rooted in the principles my family instilled in me, continued to call me and I finally heeded. I was fortunate to begin working at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (“the Florence Project”), which provides free legal services to men, women, and children in immigration detention.

At the Florence Project, I dove into working with the thousands of immigrants in detention. Juvenile court became my second home, and I represented immigrant children who had been victims of abandonment, abuse, or neglect. Because of the training and mentoring the Florence Project provided, I became an experienced litigator and fierce advocate for my clients. Serving in the trenches was tough, yet rewarding.

Providing direct client services allowed me to see where the immigration system was working and where it needed fixing. Being from a border state, I understand that immigration law and policies is complex. But the individual clients and stories proved over and over again that policies are about people. I shared this realization with my attorney friends and colleagues, and I urged them to get involved. I focused these conversations not on how we could fix our broken immigration system, but whether they could represent this one individual child from a broken home. I realized I enjoyed talking about immigrants and immigration and that I was actually quite good at enlisting volunteers.

Today, I manage the pro bono program at the Florence Project, recruiting private volunteer attorneys and creating relationships with the private law firms in Arizona. Our pro bono attorneys volunteer hundreds of hours, giving selflessly of their time and talent to represent indigent clients who otherwise would not have representation. We provide training and mentoring to any attorney who wants to volunteer with our organization. As part of our recruitment and community education, I’ve traveled across Arizona, providing education on the intersection of state and federal immigration law, and how attorneys can better serve their immigrant clients. And in all the places I go, I continue to be amazed with how immigrants and immigration are good for our state and for our nation.

Immigrants have made and continue to make extraordinary contributions to Arizona. One in six workers in Arizona is an immigrant. Immigrant-led households annually pay over $1 billion in state and local taxes. Over 20% of business owners in Arizona are immigrants. Immigrants have contributed their culture and diverse viewpoints to our state, making it richer and better-off. The contributions go on and on.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While I am incredibly fortunate to do the work I do, it has not always been a smooth road. I’ll highlight one struggle that is somewhat unique to our sector.

One ever-present bump on the road is the conflict that can exist between the law and morality. A legally sound outcome can be a devastating moral defeat. I grapple with what the law is versus what the law should be. Laws translate into systems, and these systems can be crushing. I think about our veterans, who served our country, and are deported. I remember the people who have died in immigration detention. I reflect on the blunt trauma that the immigration system has inflicted on some American children, leaving them without a parent or caregiver. I struggle with the policies that we have enacted. Do we want to be a nation that separates children from their parents? Are we no longer accepting the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free? The legally permissible can often be most unjust, and it can feel like my work is barely making a dent in the system.

Florence Project – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I work every day with strong, resilient individuals. The Florence Project is the only organization in Arizona that provides free legal and social services to men, women, and children in immigration detention. In deportation proceedings, there is no public defender system, meaning that if you can’t afford an attorney, you have to represent yourself. You’ll have a vulnerable person, who doesn’t speak the language and who doesn’t know the law, forced to represent themselves against a seasoned government prosecutor. The odds are incredibly stacked against the person. The results are what you would expect – most detained immigrants going through deportation proceedings will lose, not because their claim necessarily lacked legal merit, but because of the disparity in power, knowledge, and circumstances. On any given day in Arizona, there are 3,000 detained adults and 1,700 detained children. The vast majority of these people will have no attorney and will be deported. The Florence Projects seeks to fill this gap in representation and provide immigrants a chance to make their case.

We proudly serve this population through a variety of services. We offer people group legal orientations and individual legal assessments, listen to their stories, and empower them to make informed decisions about their cases. We do intensive self-help workshops for those preparing to represent themselves in court. We connect our clients to pro bono volunteer attorneys, provide case mentorship, and represent cases in-house. Over the last ten years, we have empowered nearly 100,000 detained immigrants to understand their rights under the law. Last year we served 7,511 men, women, and children from over 96 countries.

As a legal services organization, we are known for our strong commitment to due process. We believe that everyone deserves access to counsel. We believe that all immigrants, not just the extraordinary or the accomplished, deserve to be treated fairly and humanely. I am proud that we do not parse our clients between deserving and underserving, worthy or unworthy. The dignity that is owed to them is because they are human. The due process that is owed to them is because of our Constitution, not because of our opinion. We are attorneys that respect the law and at the same time we are people who recognize our shared humanity with our clients.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
A couple of years ago the Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association awarded me the Randy Tunac Courage in Immigration Award. Immigration attorneys across the state select one attorney who has shown exceptional passion and dedication to clients, fellow practitioners, and to making effective change in the law. I knew the previous recipients, who were all rock stars. I was very flattered to receive the award, mostly because I’ve never thought of myself as courageous. Looking back, I feel like I’ve been scared every time I’ve gone up a government prosecutor or lobbied a member of Congress. In those moments, I’ve felt the fear and still pushed forward. I continue to feel honored to have received the award and hope to continue to exhibit courage.

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