“These Are Life-Or-Death Matters”
Mauritanian Network and Ohio Immigrant Alliance Call for Access to Legal Counsel in Immigration Court
(Drawing: Mary Kelsey for SPLC)
Washington, DC – The Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in U.S. (MNHRUS) and Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OHIA) welcome introduction of the Funding Attorneys for Indigent Removal Proceedings Act, also known as the FAIR Proceedings Act, by Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY).
Houleye Thiam, President of MNHRUS, said: “In criminal cases, you have public defenders. But decisions made in immigration court are often life-or-death matters. And where is your public defender? I know many people who fled Mauritania with nothing, because they were running for their lives. In the U.S., they tried to explain what happened to them in Immigration Court, but didn’t know the language, much less how to present a legal case. My heart hurts for the asylum seekers who lost their cases and have been deported, simply because they didn’t have a lawyer to help them navigate the system. We need a ‘public defender’ program in the U.S. Immigration Court, and the FAIR Proceedings Act is a step forward.”
In Ohio, immigrants with legal representation are 10 times more likely to achieve success in immigration court than those without lawyers. According to TRAC data on closed/completed cases in the Cleveland Immigration Court, 50% of immigrants with lawyers were allowed to remain in the United States, while 33% were ordered deported (the rest were granted voluntary departure). Only 5% of immigrants without legal representation were allowed to remain in the U.S., and 91% were ordered deported.
“There’s no reason to believe that people without lawyers have weaker cases. What they do have in common are fewer resources to pay for legal advice. And immigration is a highly complex, often contradictory area of law that even people born in the United States struggle to understand,” said Lynn Tramonte, Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
“Access to legal counsel is supposed to be a bedrock principle of the U.S. judicial system, no matter how poor or rich you are. But in Immigration Court, there’s a price tag on justice that far too many cannot pay. Ohio Immigrant Alliance calls on Congress and the Biden administration to expand access to legal counsel for immigrants via legislation, appropriations, and administrative action. No one should face deportation, a life-altering consequence, without a legal advisor who understands the law and legal solutions,” she added.
New analysis from Reuters about vast differences in decisions made by the immigration judges makes it clear that legal counsel is the bare minimum needed to ensure justice is carried out in Immigration Court. Immigration Judges hired during the Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Obama presidencies denied asylum in 58% of their cases, an extremely high number due to the systemic flaws in the Immigration Court system and U.S. laws.
Trump-hired judges denied asylum at an even greater rate, 69%. Reuters found that 42% of these judges had no prior experience in immigration law. Many came from military tribunals; these officials were more likely to deny asylum and order a person deported than those who came in with an understanding of immigration law.
Added Thiam: “Over the years, people who fled genocide, slavery, and other abuses in Mauritania were denied asylum in the U.S., only because they didn’t have a lawyer and couldn’t explain their case to an American judge. I know my people and I know their pain is real. Because of Trump, many have been deported back to the country they fled and are living in hiding, or trying to find another country where they can be safe. Their families are still here. All of this pain is so unnecessary. The Biden administration must do everything in its power to ensure immigrants have lawyers, grant TPS for Mauritania, and bring our deported countrymen and women home.”
Follow the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US on Facebook and Twitter @MauritanianFor
Follow the Ohio Immigrant Alliance on Facebook and Twitter @tramontela
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