A new report from a New York State Bar Association committee details significant shortcomings in the advice received by immigrants facing removal proceedings and offers specific guidelines for both attorneys and non-attorneys who represent them. Many immigrants cannot afford adequate legal representation, do not know how to obtain it even if they can afford it, or are ill-equipped to represent themselves, according to the state bar’s Special Committee on Immigrant Representation. For those without attorneys, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review accredits non-attorney advisers, but the report says the non-attorneys sometimes may do more harm than good.
“The Special Committee recognizes that there is a dearth of adequate immigration legal representation across New York State,” says the report. “The representation crisis is dire because of the dramatic escalation in immigration enforcement and corresponding exponential increases in detentions, and expulsions of immigrants from the United States.”
