Congress is being urged to provide funding for legal counsel for foreign nationals detained for immigration violations by a coalition of over 100 civil rights and immigrant rights organizations.
Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas) Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and other senior appropriators in the House and Senate received a letter from the groups on April 22, 2024, recommending that $400 million be set aside by Congress for immigrant representation.
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There are currently very few rights related to due process and no entitlement to an attorney assigned by the government for immigrants who are detained and placed in removal proceedings.
The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), the Vera Institute of Justice, and Fairness to Freedom headed the groups that wrote and cosigned the letter, “Studies have revealed that immigrants represented by legal counsel are five times more likely to obtain legal relief, while detained individuals are up to 10.5 times more likely to achieve a favorable outcome with legal representation.”
Adding, “In fact, only 10 percent of people without representation in deportation proceedings initiated since 2001 have had successful case outcomes, compared to 63 percent of people with representation.”
Seven local governments and elected officials signed the letter with the civil rights organizations: the city of Santa Ana, California; the mayor’s office of Denver; the offices for immigrants and human rights in Chicago, Seattle, and New Orleans; Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall; and the city clerk of North Miami, Florida.
Since local governments are frequently left to handle the consequences resulting from labor losses brought on by deportations and family separations, this is a serious issue for them.
“There are 3.3 million immigrant entrepreneurs nationwide, and immigrant-led households have an estimated spending power of $1.3 trillion,” the groups noted
They further mentioned, “In New York State alone, a recent report shows that providing access to attorneys for all immigrants facing deportation proceedings in the state would likely result in an additional 53,000 New Yorkers being able to remain in their communities, resulting in an estimated net benefit of at least $8.4 billion for the federal, state, and local governments.”
The economic rationale aligns with the local government’s advocacy for work permits for asylum seekers, and is essentially an attempt to maintain productivity in the community.
Nicole Melaku, executive director of the NPNA noted, “Legal representation for people facing deportation helps keep families together and our economy thriving. An attorney in immigration court is the difference between being imprisoned in ICE detention or being at home caring for the kids; between deportation to an unknown place or pouring into a thriving local business; between struggling to navigate the labyrinth of our outdated immigration system or having a chance to understand your rights and opportunities for relief.”
While President Biden requested $150 million for representation in the 2024 budget, there was no funding for adult representation in the fiscal 2025 request; instead, a portion of the $9.3 billion increase in the refugee program is intended to assist unaccompanied children in navigating “complex immigration court proceedings.”
Several constitutional safeguards, such as the right to counsel, are not applicable in immigration trials as they are civil issues rather than criminal ones.
However, the outcomes of immigration proceedings sometimes resemble those of criminal punishment, and some illegal immigrants—some of whom may even have no prior criminal record may spend years in imprisonment.
Annie Chen, director of Vera’s Advancing Universal Representation initiative stated, “Nobody should have to stand alone when facing complicated legal proceedings that could bring about the devastating consequences of detention or deportation. Immigration proceedings are fundamentally unfair; while the government is represented every time, people who cannot afford an attorney must appear before an immigration judge alone.”
Language hurdles for certain foreign nationals and a convoluted bureaucracy add to the punitive aspect of immigration enforcement.
“Despite the critical role of legal counsel, 63 percent of all people appearing in immigration court are unrepresented by counsel, and a staggering 83 percent of detained people face proceedings without counsel,” the groups further wrote.
The letter concluded by noting, “Such unfair barriers create serious due process concerns which are even more alarming given that many deportation cases involve life or death consequences.”
