shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress

A frontpage article in yesterday’s Washington Post describes a worsening situation in immigration courts across the nation.  “Battling Deportation Often a Solitary Journey: Without Legal Assistance, Thousands Are Expelled Unfairly, Critics of System Say” (Jan. 8, 2007)  The Post emphasizes that “a growing number of people in immigration court have no legal counsel: Of more than 314,000 people whose cases ran their course in fiscal 2005, two-thirds went through on their own, or pro se.” It goes on to explain:

“In immigration courts, there are judges and prosecutors, evidence and witnesses. The consequences can be great: banishment, separation from family, perhaps persecution at home. But unlike in criminal courts, the government does not provide free lawyers for the poor.”

“That leaves respondents to navigate byzantine immigration law, the judges to walk them through it and, critics say, the courts to operate sluggishly and deport thousands unfairly.”

  When faced with a respondent who has no counsel, “judges hand immigrants a list of charities that offer free or low-cost legal services.”  Although they can help, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, at the Justice Department has been facilitating and expanding pro bono efforts, “volunteer legal aid services are often overwhelmed and have to turn people away.”  For example, Alberto M. Benitez, a law professor who directs the George Washington University Immigration Law Clinic, “said he and the students he supervises must sometimes temporarily shut down their service, which operates only during the school year, to catch up.” 

Although there seems to be little hope that lawyers will be found for every person or family facing deportation, my quick search this morning did not uncover a lot of materials that might help pro se litigants in immigration courts.   Readers who know of such resources are urged to let us know about them, using the comment feature or by email. 

Here are a few possible sources of immigration help and information:

• The George Washington University Law School Immigration Law Clinic, which represents foreign nationals many facing deportation, offers a resources and links page at its website. 
• U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services website has a lot of information linked to its benefits and services page.
• At the ImmigrationProf Blog, you can find links to many immigration organizations and projects, including the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. 
• The ABA Immigration Commission homepage has a description of The Dangers of “Notorio” Fraud (non-lawyers selling immigration counseling services); they have published a 21-page Immigration Pro Bono Opportunities paper (2004).  Also, in collaboration with Microsoft, the Commission sponsors Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice [VAIJ] in Seattle, which “a pro bono legal representation project in the Seattle area that offers free legal assistance to detained immigrants seeking asylum or other forms of relief before the immigration courts.”.
• The American Immigration Lawyers Association has an Immigation Law & You section on its website, but there is not a lot of useful self-help information at its Help Guides & Links page.  Indeed, the Immigation Basics page explains why you need a lawyer, and its brochure is really a pitch for using Association lawyers when you have an immigration problem. [However, you can find links here on topics related to employee rights.]

• The UCLA Law School Immigration Society “connects UCLA to the community by recruiting and organizing students to volunteer with community agencies that provide free and low-cost legal services for immigrants.”  The school also has an Immigration Law Clinic.
• A quick search at the New York City Pro Bono Center turned up 30 organizations listing pro bono opportunities in the area of Immigration & Naturalization law.
• LawHelp.org has state-by-state links to immigration information and recources.  For example, Washington State.