Immigrants Facing Deportation Should Have Lawyers. Congress Can Make That Happen.

As Jonathan languished in U.S. immigration detention he reflected on how he had fled terror and violence in El Salvador as a teenager. He was unaware that he was eligible to remain in the United States under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), a 1997 law passed to help tens of thousands of Central Americans in the 1980s. He had never heard of NACARA, and would have almost certainly been deported, if a publicly funded attorney had not stepped in to help protect his rights.

People facing deportation—and especially those detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—enter a dehumanizing and opaque system that is almost impossible to navigate, much less escape without an attorney. If they cannot afford legal representation, they are all but doomed to deportation.

Like Jonathan, Ramon had a legal path to remain in the United States. Ramon came to this country when he was 10 years old. After many years of living in the United States and raising three children in Los Angeles, his life was disrupted when he was sent to Adelanto Detention Facility. He spent six terrifying months there before a publicly funded attorney helped him prepare a bond package—including paperwork like pay stubs, letters of support, and evidence of community involvement—that won his freedom and allowed him to stay near his children.

Legal representation can mean the difference between family reunification and deportation

In response to injustices like these, a growing number of municipalities now offer publicly funded attorneys to protect the rights of their neighbors, friends, and co-workers who face deportation. By helping to keep families and communities together, legal representation increases stability and makes communities safer and stronger. From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, from Nevada to Colorado, elected officials in more than 55 jurisdictions in 21 states see deportation defense as an investment in their communities. However, millions of people are still left out.

These local programs provide a roadmap to justice nationwide, one that the Fairness to Freedom Act promises to implement. The bill, introduced in Congress by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) last week, would establish federally funded universal representation that guarantees quality representation for everyone facing deportation. People across the country are in favor of this and agree that no one should face immigration court on their own. This is a bi-partisan issue: two in three people in the United States support government-funded representation for people facing deportation, including 80 percent of Democrats and more than half of Republicans.

Legal representation can mean the difference between family reunification and deportation, especially for people like Ana. Ana fled violence in Guatemala and was separated from her young son at the U.S. border, before a Long Beach Justice Fund attorney helped her get out of detention and apply for asylum, a painstaking process that requires reams of complicated paperwork.

Since 2001, 93 percent of people granted relief from deportation have had legal representation. Detained immigrants without lawyers prevail in just three percent of their cases. The need even extends to people who were born in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, since some have been deported when they did not have an attorney to protect their rights. The Fairness to Freedom Act changes that, bringing the principles of justice behind public defense to another part of the legal system. About 60 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to force someone unable to afford an attorney to defend themself against the full weight of the state in criminal court. But right now, that’s exactly the situation before nearly 60 percent [LN3] of people in immigration court proceedings, which are considered civil, not criminal, matters, despite the dire consequences.

No one should be deported simply because they can’t afford an attorney.

In our respective work, we have partnered with more than 170 civil rights organizations, immigrant justice groups, legal service providers, and government leaders to build publicly funded deportation defense programs that have helped people like Paul, a Nigerian immigrant who presented himself at the border and requested asylum as the law allows. He was shackled and sent to a jail in Albany, New York, and then a detention center in Buffalo. He languished there for 15 months before a publicly funded attorney helped secure his release.

Passing the Fairness to Freedom Act will help deliver justice in cases like these nationwide, establishing the right to counsel for people who cannot afford it and creating a nonpartisan entity called the Office of Immigration Representation to implement it nationally. This will help ensure all people facing deportation have high-quality, holistic legal representation.

Congress must act swiftly to enshrine the right to fundamental dignity and fairness into law by guaranteeing high-quality representation for all people whose life, liberty, or community ties are at risk in the immigration system. This is consistent with our highest aspirations as a nation, including our fundamental belief in due process and justice for all. No one should be deported simply because they can’t afford an attorney.