The plight of many immigrants in the New York state region facing deportation without the assistance of counsel was dramatically revealed in data released at the conference, prepared by the New York Immigration Representation Study, a two-year project of the Katzmann Immigrant Representation Study Group and the Vera Institute of Justice. With the benefit of counsel, a nondetained immigrant represented by a lawyer had a 74% chance of avoiding deportation, whereas a detained immigrant without counsel had only a 3% rate of success. The transfer of huge numbers of individuals from New York to detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana and other faraway states, making it almost impossible to obtain the help of a lawyer, exacerbates this stark contrast.
Those who manage to scrape together money to pay for a lawyer aren’t necessarily better off. Complaints about the quality of representation abound. Immigration judges described the efforts they have to make to compensate for the inadequate preparation and performance of private attorneys. Even worse, many immigrants appear in court with nonlawyers who prey on the vulnerability and desperation of people facing removal.
