Isolated in Detention: New NIJC Report Details Widespread Lack of Legal Counsel for Detained Immigrants

A survey of U.S. immigration detention facilities by Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) shows that as the Obama administration detains more immigrants than ever before, many lack access to affordable legal services because they are held in remote locations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are unable to meet the staggering demand for legal assistance. The report, Isolated in Detention: Limited Access to Counsel in Immigration Detention Facilities Jeopardizes a Fair Day in Court, also finds that policies which restrict detainees from contacting lawyers by phone further isolate many of the estimated 32,000 women and men detained every night by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Among the survey’s key findings:

• While the U.S. government spent $5.9 billion to detain immigrants in fiscal year 2009, it spent less than 0.07% of that amount to provide detainees with legal rights information. Ensuring due process for the 400,000 detained immigrants was largely the job of 102 under-resourced NGOs.

• None of the NGOs had the resources required to meet the demand for legal services, particularly at detention facilities located far from major cities. Specifically, more than a quarter of the detention population included in the survey was in facilities with 500 or more detainees per NGO attorney. Eighty percent of detainees were in facilities with more than 100 people for every NGO attorney. A full 10 percent of detainees were held in facilities that had no access to legal counsel at all.

• More than half of detention facilities, holding about a quarter of the detained immigrant population, did not offer detainees any informational presentations about their rights in the immigration system.

• Barriers to legal services for geographically isolated detainees are compounded by policies blocking detainees’ ability to call attorneys. Seventy-eight percent of the detention population included in the phone survey were housed in facilities prohibiting lawyers from having private calls with clients.

For a news report on teh new report, click here.

KJ