"On May 31, 2012, in an effort to improve access to counsel before
CBP, ICE and USCIS, the LAC and Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants’
Rights released the report, Behind Closed Doors: An Overview of DHS Restrictions on Access to Counsel.
The report describes restrictions on access to legal representation
before DHS, provides a legal landscape, and offers recommendations
designed to combat DHS’s harmful practices. It also addresses recent
changes to USCIS guidance that are intended to expand access to legal
representation. The report includes anecdotes from immigration attorneys across the
country indicating that CBP, ICE and USCIS often interfere with
noncitizens’ access to counsel in benefits interviews, interrogations,
and other types of administrative proceedings outside of immigration
court. Depending on the context, immigration officers completely bar
attorney participation, impose unwarranted restrictions on access to
legal counsel, or strongly discourage noncitizens from seeking legal
representation at their own expense." IAC Legal Action Center, May 31, 2012.
"On behalf of their client, the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center (LAC), students from the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights contributed to the production of a report on immigrant access to legal counsel released today. Behind Closed Doors: An overview of DHS Restrictions on Access to Counsel concludes
that the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agencies — U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — often
interfere with noncitizens’ access to counsel in benefits interviews,
interrogations, and other types of administrative proceedings outside of
immigration court.
“This project allowed
students to work with the LAC, which has long advocated for increased
access to counsel in immigration proceedings. The immigration statute
explicitly provides that a noncitizen has a right to counsel during
deportation (now "removal") proceedings at his own expense, but does not
provide noncitizens with government-paid counsel,” said Professor
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia,
director of the Center for Immigrant’s Rights. “Less understood but
significant is the role of counsel in immigration proceedings before the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which is why the Center wanted to
collaborate with LAC to produce a related white paper addressing the
major legal and policy issues.”
Over the course of two semesters, a
team of four law students at the Center reviewed legal documents,
conducted additional research, analyzed more than 100 surveys by
attorneys, interviewed attorneys about their experiences with access to
counsel, and contributed to the drafting of this report and its
recommendations. The white paper articulates the legal and policy
standards governing an individual’s right to counsel in various
non-removal settings in order to provide a framework for understanding
the rights of represented individuals as well as the agency culture that
continues to limit and deny representation in encounters before DHS.
“The paper illustrates how current DHS practices do not comply with
existing law and/or apply restrictive interpretations of the law that
are not good policy,” Wadhia said. Included in the paper are
recommendations to DHS and other federal agencies for improving access
to counsel.
Stephen Coccorese ’12 one of the
students working on the project said, “This was a great opportunity to
work on an important and emerging issue in immigration law that could
have a substantial real-world impact.”
Heather Hoechst ’12 also was pleased to
work on a project which will have an effect on practitioners of
immigration law. “It also helped me improve other skills which will
serve me well in practice. I was able to hone my communication skills,
learn more about interpersonal working relationships, and be exposed to
an environment requiring professionalism and cooperation." Sara Hart ’12
and Elizabeth Boul ’12 also were part of the team that produced the
final report." -
Penn State Law, May 30, 2012.