10% of Illegal Immigrants Held In Detention Centers Have No Access To Legal Aid

According to Ken Dilanian of the Los Angeles Times Illegal immigrants held in isolated jails struggle for legal help.

A survey finds The majority are in facilities beyond the reach of legal aid groups, resulting in caseloads of 100 detainees per attorney, a rights group reports. An additional 10% have no access to any legal aid.

The Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center has released a survey of immigration detention facilities nationwide, and found that:

1. More than half did not offer detainees information about their rights

2. 78% prohibited private phone calls with lawyers

3. More than 80% of detainees were in facilities that were isolated and beyond the reach of legal aid organizations

4. This has created heavy caseloads of 100 detainees per immigration attorney, the survey found

5. Ten percent of detainees were held in facilities in which they had no access at all to legal aid groups.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased the numbers of immigrants detained which has created a need for an increase numbers of detainee centers:

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, detains about 400,000 immigrants annually at a cost of $1.7 billion this fiscal year, its budget documents say. Agency head John Morton has pledged to overhaul the detention system after years of news reports spotlighting poor treatment and deaths of detainees.

This has stretched the network of lawyers who provide legal counsel to immigrant groups:

Illegal immigrants facing deportation proceedings have no guaranteed right to a lawyer, but a network of nonprofit organizations offers legal help to immigrants in detention. That network is overstretched, and immigrants are often moved to facilities that are far from legal support groups, said the report by the justice center. The report surveyed 150 immigration detention facilities that accounted for 97% of the detention beds.

According to the Migration Policy Institute providing legal counsel to immigrants would actually save citizens money:

Granting immigrants better access to counsel could even save taxpayer money, the immigrant justice group argues, because detainees often would be released sooner, saving the $122-a-day cost of detention.