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Detainees' experiences with detention are mediated
by the unequal treatment at these sites as well
as within the immigration court system, affecting
access to counsel and visitation, the pace of legal proceedings, and the length of stay in detention. For example, a report by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC, 2006) determined that immigration judges' decisions in asylum cases vary widely: some judges deny asylum as much as 98% of the time, and some as little as l0%. Unlike the criminal courts, the constitutional right to legal counsel is not guaranteed in immigration proceedings. As a result, as few as 11 percent of immigrant detainees have legal representation in the immigration courts (Miller, 2002,215). In asylum court, for example, the failure rate for an asylum-seeker without legal
representation is 93.4% (TRAC, 2006). [Citing TRAC research].
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