The American justice system penalizes poverty at every turn. Despite the fact that living in poverty in and of itself creates legal problems for low-income Americans, there are simply not enough resources available to meet the legal needs faced by America's most vulnerable communities. Given the fact that Americans spend more each year on Halloween costumes for their pets than the federal government does in providing funding for legal aid offices, it's no surprise that 86 percent of civil legal problems faced by low-income Americans receive inadequate or no legal help.

Unfortunately, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation, has been seriously threatened throughout the last few years. Despite the fact that, accounting for inflation, LSC's 2013 allocation was the lowest it's received in its storied 40 year history, this administration's proposed completely eliminating the Legal Services Corporation its FY2018 budget. Such a cut would leave this country’s most vulnerable without access to the “Equal Justice Under the Law” promised them by our Constitution.

Nowhere is the value of the Legal Services Corporation more felt than in rural America, where, on average, there are more legal needs per capita than in urban areas and where there are far fewer private attorneys able to offer pro bono services. To highlight just how valuable legal aid attorneys are in rural communities, photojournalist Michael Santiago visited with the dedicated attorneys at the Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society (SVLAS). He discovered that the story of the Exit 19 Trailer Park exemplified just how important legal aid attorneys are for Americans living in rural poverty.

For years the Exit 19 Trailer Park was left in disrepair as maintenance issues were left untreated. Finally, in the Spring of 2017, residents sent Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society several applications for assistance, feeling that their landlord wasn’t meeting state standards. When a new owner purchased the park and threatened to evict almost all the 18 tenants based on past due rent, it was clear that the former landlord had been pocketing their rent without addressing obvious maintenance. Most of the tenants owned their mobile home and had only been paying lot rent, with some having open titles. What’s more, none of them had signed a formal lease, another violation of Virginia law.