Immigration and firm news

Unaccompanied Children and Families: What it’s like to practice law at the Artesia detention center

Immigration lawyers from around the country, who have volunteered their time at the Artesia, New Mexico detention facility, are reporting back about their experiences volunteering there helping unaccompanied minors and children with their parents. The Artiesia facility has been referred to by some as akin to a US refugee camp. Stories from these lawyers are quite heart wrenching. For example, Eileen Sterlock from Oregon reports on the AILA Leadership Blog how she has changed after watching the lack of legal due process. She says, “[t]he lack of justice, due process, and the gross infringement on basic human rights at Artesia is truly staggering.” Kim Hunter reports on the frustration with the lack of due process for children and parents, as well as the need for more volunteers and systems to handle the large number of people needing lawyers. She reports: “…[t]he reality on the ground feels like the worst of all the border legislation that was proposed and failed actually passed – people are being herded through the system en masse, with no genuine regard to due process whatsoever.  Why bother to change the law when Washington can accomplish the same goals by impeding people’s access to attorneys and to release from custody, as well as rush them to a final hearing where an application written in a language they don’t understand is their only lifeline?” There are more compelling stories on the AILA Leadership Blog by attorneys facing heartbreak after working with such desperate people.

For a very compelling visual look at the Artesia facility and the difficulties experienced by other lawyers volunteering there, see this video from Democracy Now:

 

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere around the country, where children and families have been released pending future immigration court hearings, the government has prioritized recent arrival cases.  Here in Seattle, one immigration judge has been assigned to the children’s “rocket docket” where individuals are given just three weeks to find an attorney and then another three weeks to submit an asylum claim, a process that often takes months while attorneys collect evidence and experts in order to effectively present a claim. The ACLU and a number of other organizations recently filed suit against the government requesting that the federal court block implementation of the rocket dockets so children and families have time to get counsel and to exercise their due process rights.

Many Americans don’t realize that while Immigration Court proceedings are civil in nature and that immigrants have a right to counsel, they do not have a right to government appointed counsel. While being treated like criminals as they can be locked up for months until their cases are resolved, unlike criminals in the justice system, they do not get free government appointed counsel.  Therefore, they are left to fend for themselves or to find limited free or low bono counsel. While bar groups are rushing to gear up for pro bono projects, the docket is so swift that many people are forced to go without counsel at all. In particular, those with potential asylum claims are often too stressed or are trauma victims, making it difficult to reveal their circumstances. Moreover, many  people have potential claims to asylum in an area of difficult law where many cases are litigated on the issue of who belongs to a  “particular social group,” one of the five grounds upon which a person can show they were or will be persecuted. Thus, the need for skilled lawyers is essential. Around the country, bar groups are trying to figure out ways to support lawyers who can give up a week or two of their practices to journey to this remote part of New Mexico, or to take on more complex cases locally.