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Advocacy Update
July 2005
Legal Orientation Program: A Win-Win-Win Program
By Matt Wilch, LIRS Director for Policy
On any given day our government detains over 22,000 people for immigration processing. Virtually all of them have immigration court hearings to prepare for in less than one month. Some face deportation back to countries of persecution; others face exile from their families and return to countries they knew only as infants or small children. Despite the urgent time frame and the dire consequences of deportation, only 20 percent of those detained have access to lawyers.
To meet this challenge LIRS has long championed the systemwide adoption of the innovative legal orientation program (LOP) developed by LIRS asylum and immigration grant recipient Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP). Through LOP, community-based nonprofit agencies provide legal orientation for everyone in detention, individual case assessments for those who request them, and referrals to expert volunteer attorneys for as many persons as possible who have relief-the legal possibility of remaining in the United States. In regions where there are few pro bono lawyers, staff offer workshops that empower people to represent themselves. LOP requires a round table approach: the government recognizes that nonprofit legal service provision is an integral part of the system, and all share the common goal of achieving a fair and efficient process.
This is a win-win-win method. People in detention can have increased access to legal information and help. Nonprofits can provide some basic initial service to everyone, target follow-up services to those with relief, and leverage their capacity through referrals and workshops. The government can save money by decreasing the number of days spent in detention, make better use of judges' time and achieve and achieve a more constructive atmosphere in detention facilities .
From 1992 to 2001 LIRS worked with FIRRP to build support for the approach among nonprofit networks and policy makers. After FIRRP, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and ProBar conducted a successful pilot program at three sites, Congress authorized $1 million to create programs at six detention centers. LIRS partners FIRRP, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network each serve a site. CLINIC and Pro Bar serve the other three sites.
In the first full year of federal funding for LOP operation, fiscal year 2003, over 17,000 people received legal rights presentations. Detention time decreased an average of 1.5 days for those in the program, producing an estimated savings of $2 million. These statistics are reported more fully in "Increasing The Efficiency And Fairness Of Immigration Removal Proceedings: Why Congress Should Expand The Legal Orientation Program," by Dr. Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Deputy Director for Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration.
The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, which was created by Congress to track the needs of refugees fleeing religious persecution, called for the systemwide adoption of LOP. Schoenholtz noted that the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform made a similar recommendation in 1997.
"Noncitizens receive more fair treatment, as those with no relief available spend less time in detention before their removal, and those with potentially meritorious cases are more likely to find pro bono assistance," concludes Schoenholtz. "Increasing funding for such a successful program is a no-brainer."
Read past Advocacy/Washington Updates.
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