Entry to Justice
Asylum-seekers face ‘severe scarcity of attorneys’ to assist them
A surge in migrants crossing the southern border has created a case backlog in immigration courts and “a severe scarcity of attorneys to assist navigate the notoriously sophisticated authorized course of” for asylum-seekers. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A surge in migrants crossing the southern border has created a case backlog in immigration courts and “a severe scarcity of attorneys to assist navigate the notoriously sophisticated authorized course of” for asylum-seekers, in response to the New York Times.
The immigration-court backlog has elevated from 300,000 instances in 2012 to greater than 3.5 million right this moment, the newspaper experiences, citing data from the Transactional Information Entry Clearinghouse at Syracuse College.
Solely about 30% of migrants are capable of finding a lawyer to characterize them in pending instances, down from 65% 5 years in the past, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reports.
“There has all the time been a scarcity of immigration attorneys, however the scarcity has change into extra evident lately,” mentioned Amy R. Grenier, a coverage and observe counsel with the American Immigration Legal professionals Affiliation, in an interview with the New York Occasions.
The New York Occasions chronicled the plight of Jander Durán and his household, who left Colombia after guerrillas threatened them, probably due to political activism by Durán’s father.
The primary lawyer employed by Durán and his spouse agreed to take their case for about $10,000 and helped them get work permits. However he mentioned he wanted more cash for the asylum case.
When the couple’s case was known as by an immigration decide, the lawyer mentioned through video he was withdrawing as a result of there was no settlement on his charge. The decide agreed to delay the case to permit the Duráns to discover a new lawyer.
The duty of dealing with their case appeared too tough for the fDuráns. A whole bunch of pages of paperwork could be wanted, together with proof of threats and the activism of Durán’s father.
“Most immigrants founder there; greater than 80% of asylum instances are rejected,” the newspaper experiences.
The couple looked for a brand new lawyer by asking each migrant they met if their lawyer might take their case.
They lastly discovered a lawyer, Jeff Peek, who instructed the New York Occasions that Durán “has a powerful case, and we’re excited to get in there and make an argument for him.”