Legislative Briefing featuring Senator Brad Hoylman (second from left), Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, and NYIC Executive Director Murad Awawdeh. Photo: Micah Dicker.
For many immigrants and most asylum seekers, returning to their countries of origin puts their lives in imminent danger. Many new arrivals experienced anti-LGBT discrimination in their home country; others experienced political persecution. Some were victims of domestic abuse, others witnesses to violent organized crime.
When immigrants are deported or refused asylum, the very problems they came to the United States to flee await them back home. But without someone knowledgeable in immigration law to assist them, these points are difficult to argue successfully in front of a judge.
Defendants in immigration proceedings currently have no inherent right to legal counsel. Assembly Member Catalina Cruz and Senator Brad Hoylman aim to change that through their co-sponsorship of the Access to Representation Act (S.81B/A.1961A), which would grant affordable legal help to all immigrants in court, not just those with means.
If an immigrant can find and afford an attorney, they are 10.5 times more likely to win their case- to be granted asylum, to be released from detention, or to avoid deportation.
But without an attorney, immigration court proceedings are one-sided; the government may employ an entire team to present a case against a single immigrant, while the immigrant is left to argue on their own behalf.
On November 30, we heard stories of this nature from a number of immigrants, asylum seekers, and community activists by City Hall in Lower Manhattan as we launched the Campaign for Access, Representation, and Equity (CARE) for Immigrant Families.
Led by the New York Immigration Coalition, the Vera Institute of Justice, and Immigrant ARC, the CARE Campaign will put pressure on statewide elected officials to pass the Access to Representation Act (ARA).
The campaign launch began with a press conference at the Manhattan Municipal Building, followed by a legislative briefing, both led by NYIC Executive Director Murad Awawdeh and ARA cosponsors Cruz and Hoylman.
In both settings, we heard testimonies from immigrant New Yorkers about the struggles of defending oneself in immigration court without a lawyer and the subsequent fear of awaiting an unfavorable outcome, as well as the triumph of having an attorney successfully plead one's asylum or deportation case to a judge.
The stories we heard were both devastating and uplifting, and exemplified the need for accessible, affordable legal representation for all those undergoing immigration court proceedings.
Graphic courtesy of the New York Immigration Coalition.
There has never been a greater need for representation, with 27,000 asylum seekers now living in New York after having been bused here from Texas since the summer, having regular check-ins with ICE, and requiring an appearance in court as part of their asylum application.
Public opinion may sway how elected officials vote; 93 percent of New Yorkers support government-funded lawyers in immigration court. If the ARA is passed, New York would be the first state in the country to guarantee such a right.
Ultimately, guaranteed legal representation for immigrants and refugees will keep immigrant families together in the U.S., which has long been shown to foster social and economic advancement and overall wellbeing.