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A recent report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that of 38,601 “rocket docket” cases of adults (usually mothers) with children decided from July 2014 through this past September, 70% of those facing deportation didn’t have a lawyer. Of those, 43.4% were ordered deported at their initial hearing, with a median time from filing to closure of 24 days. But among those who found a lawyer, only 4% were ordered out at that initial hearing.
It’s unconscionable that lack of access to legal help forces so many vulnerable people who may have a legal right to stay to instead return to danger.
While the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which operates the immigration courts, disputes some of TRAC’s analysis of federal data, the broad outlines of the report reveal a stunning difference in outcomes. A prime factor in that disparity, according to TRAC, is that only 1 in 15 families without lawyers filed the proper papers to seek asylum, something immigration advocates ascribe to their ignorance of the arcane process. You can’t make a coherent case that you should be allowed sanctuary if you don’t know how the system works.
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