In Congress, increased immigrant representation may well lead to comprehensive immigration reform in 2013 — at least we can hope.
It is critical that all people in immigration proceedings have representation, not simply those who are detained.
This classification was made based on such characteristics as immigration intensity, species representation in the metacommunity and the size of local communities.
Her most important — and most difficult — task this year is finding lawyers for the dozens of students who need representation in immigration court.
CALA provides counselling or legal representation on immigration matters to people in the greater New York area for free or at low cost.
Many critics have also noted the woeful absence of legal protections and transparency in the system, which railroads detainees through overloaded immigration courts, often without representation.
Under Judge Gee's order, the immigration courts could provide representation by lawyers, by students participating in law school clinics, or by the immigration system's equivalent of a paralegal.
"There is no right to government-paid representation in immigration court," Ms. Komis said in a statement, "so no attorney is appointed when a respondent is believed to be incompetent".
The asylum seekers counsel, Shane Prince, argued the secretary of the immigration department had made representation to the asylum seekers in March that there would be processes in place to deal with their applications.
In February, the first mainland Chinese agent to be convicted in Hong Kong was jailed for 10 months for making a false representation to immigration officers and for breaching a condition of stay.
Eighty-four percent of people in immigration detention lack attorney representation.
