ECO Expands Capacity to Serve More People
Innovative and efficient systems bring more access to justice
Immigrant Oregonians are critical to our state’s success and our shared prosperity. Oregon’s universal representation program has strengthened families and communities across the state. Equity Corps of Oregon provides free immigration legal services. It has grown substantially because of the benefits it provides to Oregon communities and its approach to access to justice. Currently, more people apply to become members of ECO than ECO can admit and so there is a waitlist. It is not uncommon for waitlists to form for popular programs, especially when the demand is high and the services are critical. OWR only allows a person to come off the waitlist when there is the capacity to provide legal services. Under Senate Bill 1543, ECO can only serve individuals up to its reasonably measured capacity. The wait time varies depending on the urgency of the matter, with wait times from under 1 day to six months or more. OWR has invested heavily in creating additional capacity with new lawyers, new legal clinics, and new technology.
With more than 10,000 members enrolled in the ECO program, OWR must balance admitting new members with serving existing members. Often immigration cases can take many years and require many different applications, appointments, and interactions. In May 2023, Title 42 ended after which many new arrivals came to Oregon. While membership rapidly grew, so did the waitlist.
With its investments in technology and increasing provider capacity initiatives such as the Immigrant Justice fellowship program, Colibrí Accredited Representative fellowship, Friend of Court, the ECO Asylum Clinic and Integrated Pro Se Workshop, mobile clinics in Hermiston, Medford, Newport, Bend and Woodburn, and new providers at Latino Community Association in Bend; Adelante Mujeres in Forest Grove; and Pacific Refugee Support Group in Portland, among others, wait times have decreased. With more capacity, more people can be served. Wait times for enrollment are projected to drop below 30 days in Spring 2025.
