Access to Counsel
Only 14% of detained immigrants have an attorney and for those who do, impediments to counsel can be immensely harmful. Read about our advocacy work highlighting access to counsel issues in the immigration detention system and the importance of safeguarding this vital right.
Joint Letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Calls for Legal Telephonic Access in Detention
March 1, 2021
On March 1, 2021, El Paso area legal service providers sent a letter to DHS highlighting the barriers to legal calls in the Otero County and El Paso Service Processing Centers and calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately provide and schedule free, confidential legal phone calls for individuals detained there.
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Lawsuit Challenges ICE’s Repeated Denial of Free Legal Phone Calls in El Paso Region
May 4, 2020
Free, confidential legal phone calls are crucial for detained asylum seekers, but lawyers and clients in the El Paso region have been repeatedly denied these calls by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On Monday, May 4, 2020, Immigration Justice Campaign pro bono partner Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliff, LLP filed a lawsuit with ICE to ensure that legal calls can take place in a way that is safe and free for detained individuals in the El Paso region.
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Letter to DHS Requesting "Remain in Mexico" Program Be Stopped
March 6, 2020
One hundred and fifty three organizations, including AILA, sent a letter to DHS urging it to uphold U.S. asylum law and to allow asylum seekers currently subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) into the United States so they may seek refuge and protection from within the country.
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CBP Responds to Letter Regarding Concerns over Truncated Asylum Programs Being Piloted in El Paso, TX
February 28, 2020
Acting Commissioner of CBP, Mark A. Morgan, sent a response to a letter from Representative Veronica Escobar (D-TX) expressing concerns over two new programs subjecting vulnerable individuals to truncated asylum review processes known as PACR and HARP. The letter reveals new details about the operation and application of both programs.
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Call for an End to the Remain in Mexico Program
January 29, 2020
January 2020 marked one year of the egregious Remain in Mexico, or Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), program, which forces asylum seekers arriving at our southern border to remain in Mexico for months while they wait for their hearings before a U.S. immigration judge. Immigration Justice Campaign volunteers and staff participated in nationwide events on January 29, 2020 to call for an end to this harmful program.
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El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC) Seeks to Change the Asylum Landscape for Detained Immigrants
August 6, 2019
The Immigration Justice Campaign, along with local and national partners, has launched the El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC). EPIC seeks to increase legal representation for detained immigrants in and around El Paso and promote oversight of the immigration courts and detention centers in the region.
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Letter Urges Secretary Nielsen to End the Migrant Protection Protocols Policy
February 6, 2019
The American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. sent a letter to DHS Secretary Nielsen on February 6, 2019 documenting the harm that families served by the Proyecto Dilley (formerly the Dilley Pro Bono Project) have faced on the other side of the southern border – and demanding a reversal of the Migrant Protection Protocols.
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