Program helps non-lawyers assist those eyeing asylum
After 20 years of teaching law students to defend asylum seekers and even more time defending them herself, Michele Pistone was distressed that many immigrants still have to face the complicated United States asylum system without an advocate – or even any understanding of the process.
So, she took a few years off from teaching law at Villanova, a Catholic university northwest of Philadelphia, and created a program designed to train more people to represent asylum seekers and immigrants.
The students who finish the threesemester VIISTA program she created will be recognized by the Department of Justice and able to represent immigrants in immigration court proceedings as accredited representatives, even though they’re not attorneys.
VIISTA, or Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates, began with 35 students in August and will enroll more in January and May. Asylum seekers are immigrants who have fled their country seeking protection from persecution, human rights violations and even threats of death.
In recent years, many have come through the Mexico-u.s. border from such countries as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
People apply for asylum in the United States and their case goes to one of the nation’s immigration courts; Ohio’s only immigration court is in Cleveland.
Because immigration courts are civil courts, immigrants aren’t guaranteed a government-funded attorney and have to find their own representation. That can be especially difficult for individuals who are detained.
There’s also a shortage of immigration attorneys, especially who do lowcost or free work, Pistone said.
She said accredited representatives play a role much like physician assistants do for doctors.
“It’s really kind of a mini JD (juris doctorate or law degree), but it’s focused on immigration law,” Pistone said. “You’re getting all the law, you’re getting a sense of how to be a lawyer, how to do the things lawyers do.”
Essentially, they supplement what’s already being offered by lawyers at a time when there aren’t enough lawyers to serve everyone in need and “six of 10 immigrants go to court without a lawyer.”
“There are so many parts of the lawyering process that are currently done by lawyers because we don’t have another career path,” Pistone said. “But once we create additional career paths in legal services, we can start to unbundle the role of lawyer and have lawyers work with a team.”
The training program, which is done in three modules, is the first to train accredited representatives for immigration court in a university setting, she said.
Other programs are offered through nonprofit groups and immigration advocacy organizations.
“There are programs that have existed for years; they’re just different,” Pistone said.
Her program is supported by Villanova and is designed like a college course and is more accessible than others because it can be taken online, she said.
Pistone said accredited representatives are underutilized. There are 2,053 accredited representatives, according to the Department of Justice, but only 269 are fully accredited. Partially accredited representatives can only represent immigrants in front of the Department of Homeland Security, not in immigration court proceedings.
The first module of the VIISTA course teaches people about the immigrant experience and how to help support them with needs in their daily lives, Pistone said.
“In the field there’s a lot of need for accompaniment, to help immigrants integrate into the local community, register children at school, open a bank account, create a resume, find a place to live, accompany them to court but not represent them,” Pistone said. “Even just having someone there by your side can provide a lot of value for immigrants.”
In August 2019, advocates in Columbus hosted training sessions for people interested in accompanying undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins or immigration court in Cleveland. It was part of a growing number of training programs nationwide. At that time, local advocates were calling for more people to be educated to help people through the immigration court process.
The cost of each module, which lasts a semester or 14 weeks, is around $1,280.
The second module helps people learn about immigration law, policy and procedures to become a partially accredited representative.
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE), an Ohio nonprofit law firm that works with Columbus to provide representation for undocumented immigrants from Franklin County, has three accredited representatives, said Eugenio Mollo Jr., managing attorney at ABLE.
The representatives that work at ABLE help immigrants file applications and forms, said Maria Otero, a staff attorney for the group.
Otero said there are a lot of things in immigration court that a representative could do, though she thinks it’s important that they are learning from someone with experience and have someone to ask questions of, as immigration rules constantly change.
If students finish Pistone’s threemodule course, they can work for a nonprofit organization, such as ABLE, that will apply for them to be an accredited representative with the Department of Justice, Pistone said.
Representation for people facing deportation is extremely critical, said Corey Lazar, senior program associate with the SAFE Cities Network at the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York Citybased organization that works to improve the U.S. justice system.
“It makes a tremendous difference if you’re represented,” Lazar said.
Immigrants are 10 times more likely to win their cases when they have an attorney, according to a 2015 study cited by Vera.
The Vera Institute thinks there should be a federally funded right to council in deportation proceedings, like there is in criminal proceedings. But, until then, the institute is working with local governments to find representation for immigrants detained locally, Lazar said.
“There needs to be as much support as possible until we get to the point of a federally funded system,” Lazar said.
In Columbus, there is the Columbus Families Together Fund. Vera, ABLE and other advocacy organizations work with the city to provide immigrants who live in Franklin County with legal representation and information on their rights. The program is in its third year and up for renewal.
It is funded by the Columbus City Council, which offered $185,000 over three years to three organizations, including ABLE, which received $157,500 to provide legal services to immigrants and their families. Vera contributed $100,000 and ABLE gave $115,000 to the fund.
“Accredited representatives are a great, important part of a legal team” Lazar said. “It’s so important to have this large legal team, specifically in places like Columbus, Ohio, where there are so few immigration attorneys.”
The denial rate on asylum claims has climbed in recent years and is at a record high of 71.6% of cases being denied in fiscal year 2020, according to TRAC, a Syracuse University clearinghouse, which gathers and analyzes data on immigration from government agencies.
Pistone wants to bridge the gap between passionate people who want to help immigrants and the immigrants themselves who need advocacy and information.
“Imagine if we can build up this core of passionate people who want to provide information to immigrants and then we just find ways to get the information out there,” she said. dking@dispatch.com @Danaeking