Ingrid Eagly: Public Defenders Are Needed to Ensure Justice in Our Immigration Court System
Ingrid Eagly writes about the need for guaranteed counsel in immigration court proceedings:
“The global migration crisis is placing immigration courts in the world spotlight. In the United States, immigration courts are severely backlogged and detention costs are soaring. Yet, because deportation is considered a civil, not a criminal, matter, the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution does not require the appointment of counsel. This lack of counsel is not only harming the immigrants subject to the deportation process, but it also prevents our courts from reaching just and efficient decisions when faced with increased migration flows.
Immigrants too poor to afford counsel need public defenders.”
For more of this blog post, click here.
KJ