DOJ cuts detained migrants’ legal help
Program funds efforts in Arizona, 15 other states
The Department of Justice has temporarily halted a program that provides legal assistance to detained immigrants facing deportation in 16 states, including Arizona.
As of April 30, the Justice Department will no longer provide $8 million to fund the Legal Orientation Program, according to the Vera Institute for Justice, a non-profit organization based in New York City.
The institute, in turn, distributes the $8 million to 23 smaller groups that provide legal assistance to about 50,000 detained immigrants annually in 40 detention facilities in the 16 states, including $500,000 in funding to the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.
Under the program, the Florence project provides legal assistance annually to about 3,000 detained immigrants held at four separate detention facilities, including the Eloy Detention Center and the Florence Service Processing Center, among the largest in the country.
Department of Justice officials say the program is being paused only until the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, can conduct an audit to determine the program’s effectiveness.
But the decision to even temporarily stop the $8 million in funding for the Legal Orientation Program has outraged immigrant-rights advocates. They fear eliminating the program will deny immigrants facing deportation their right to due process in determining whether they can stay legally in the U.S.
The program provides a legal “lifeline for many immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and greencard holders — some who are fighting for their lives — who would otherwise not know the rights they have or the odds they face,” the Vera Institute for Justice said in a statement. “Every day this program is not in operation puts family unity at risks, harms our communities, and infringes on the right of all people to make informed decisions about their legal claims.”
Advocates point out the last time an audit was conducted, in 2012, the government concluded the program saved Immigration and Customs Enforcement nearly $18 million. Detained immigrants who received legal information spent less time in detention because they could more quickly determine whether they had a valid claim to remain in the U.S. or whether it was best to accept deportation, the audit concluded.
The loss of funding also comes at a time when the number of immigrants being arrested, detained and deported has increased, raising concerns that the Trump administration is trying to accelerate deportations by denying immigrants due process.
“We are concerned that ending this program that there will be lack of due process that will lead to people being rapidly and wrongly deported without knowing their rights,” said Laura St. John, legal director for the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.
The Legal Orientation Program was started in 2003 under then-President George W. Bush. It was modeled after a program pioneered by the Florence Project, the first program in the country to provide legal assistance to detained immigrants, St. John said. It was intended to improve efficiency in immigration courts by helping detained immigrants navigate the nation’s complex immigration system, because the vast majority of them cannot afford to hire their own lawyer, St. John said.
Unlike defendants facing criminal charges, detained immigrants are not entitled to governmentfunded lawyers if they can not afford to hire their own attorney.
Under the program, lawyers from the Florence Project meet with groups of detained immigrants inside detention centers, provide an overview of immigration removal proceedings and explain ways immigrants might be eligible to remain legally in the U.S.
They also meet individually with detained immigrants to briefly discuss their cases, answer questions or refer them to pro bono legal services.
“In many instances, we are not only the only lifeline, but the last lifeline,” St. John said.
“We are concerned that ending this program that there will be lack of due process that will lead to people being rapidly and wrongly deported without knowing their rights.”
Laura St. John Legal director, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project