President Biden’s New Presidential Memorandum Seeks to Expand Access to Legal Representation

Last week, President Biden signed a Presidential Memorandum that seeks to expand legal representation, including in immigration and criminal cases. As the White House explained, the action “will reinvigorate the federal government’s role in advancing access to justice, and help ensure that the Administration’s policies and recovery efforts can reach as many individuals as possible.” In the memorandum, Biden instructed the Attorney General to submit a plan to expand the DOJ’s work on access to justice and to convene the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable. These initiatives could potentially benefit immigrants facing deportation proceedings, where there is no right to appointed counsel.

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