News Story (NATIONAL)
Nicole Narea
Law360
May 19, 2019
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Immigration Process, Pro Bono
Organizations mentioned/involved: Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Safe Passage Project (NY)
DETAILS
Scholars have found that having an attorney improves odds in removal proceedings: Immigrants with representation achieve a positive outcome in 21% of their cases, more than 10 times the rate of pro se respondents, according to a 2015 study published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Nevertheless, about three out of four children whose immigration cases began in fiscal year 2017 did not have an attorney, according to the most recently available data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
But some legal aid groups — including Kids in Need of Defense, or KIND, and the New York-based Safe Passage Project — have made it their mission to rally pro bono attorneys ready to advocate for immigrant children left unrepresented by the system.
The need for such legal services has only become greater, the groups said, as the Trump administration has adopted a “zero tolerance policy” toward unauthorized border crossers, putting more immigrant family units in detention than ever.