Esperanza began its existence as the Los Angeles Detention Project of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC).  CLINIC is a national non-profit, with the mission to enhance and expand delivery of legal services to indigent and low-income immigrants principally through diocesan immigration programs and to meet the immigration needs identified by the Catholic Church in the United States.  CLINIC provides technical support and legal training to local Catholic Charities' immigration programs across the United States; advocates on a national level on behalf of immigrants; and works to increase free legal resources for immigrants nationally.  Current CLINIC projects include:

• The Board of Immigration Appeals Pro Bono Project, which works to place with free attorneys the appeals of immigrants who represented themselves in Immigration Court, and won, but Immigration (ICE) appealed;
• The National Asylee Information and Referral Hotline, which works to help indviduals who have recently won asylum connect with service providers who can help them get services for which they qualify (assistance with housing, medical benefits and job training);
• Ongoing immigration law training of legal services providers, through webinars, on-site trainings and conferences; 
• National Pro Bono Project for Children, which works to place children across the country with free (‘pro bono’) attorneys.  To ask for a free attorney for a child in deportation (removal) hearings, fill out their on-line referral form.

CLINIC established a Detention Project in Los Angeles in 1995 housed at Catholic Charities of Los Angeles.  The project was one of seven CLINIC Detention Project sites across the country; the largest single network of detention service projects.  The purpose was to address the needs of non-citizens in detention facing removal from the United States to their countries of origin.  CLINIC views detainees, particularly low income, as some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants due to their lack of legal representation, distance from family members, unfamiliarity with immigration laws effecting their case, distance from family members, loss of employment, and possible fear of persecution and deep concern over returning to their homeland.

CLINIC’s Detention Project was directed by an attorney in its D.C. headquarters, supervised by a two-year Georgetown University Law Center fellow and staffed by other law school fellows and students,  an administrative assistant and many volunteers.  The focus of the staff’s activities were to: 1) visit immigrant detainees in detention to conduct “know-your-rights” presentations; 2) identify detainees without representation yet with a likely claim to an immigration benefit allowing them to remain in the U.S.; 3) secure legal representation from pro bono or CLINIC assigned attorneys; and 4) report on systemic and detainee-specific problems in the immigration detention system and advocate for improvements and reform.

After over a decade of success in representing immigrants in Immigration Court, winning relief from removal, and securing much-needed reforms, CLINIC in 2008 devolved its control over the Detention Project to its local affiliate Catholic Charities of Los Angeles.  The project continues under the name Esperanza.  Similarly, CLINIC has successfully transferred all other detention projects to its affiliates for more local control and stronger sustainability.