As the Trump administration escalates its deportation efforts, a new report underscores the crucial role of legal representation in immigration court proceedings.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 20 — A recent report from the American Immigration Council reveals that legal representation is vital for ensuring fairness in immigration court, particularly as the Trump administration intensifies its mass deportation and detention efforts.
The analysis, which examines over 2.28 million immigration court cases from fiscal years 2019 to 2024, indicates that having a lawyer significantly decreases the likelihood of deportation. The findings also highlight how case outcomes are influenced by factors such as detention status and the geographical location of the court, which are increasingly undermining the fairness of the immigration court system.
The report, titled Where Can You Win in Immigration Court? The Impact of Lawyers, Detention, Geography, and Policy, arrives at a critical time when the Trump administration is ramping up its deportation targets while simultaneously restricting access to due process.
“The Trump administration’s enforcement surge is exposing just how vulnerable people are when they go into immigration court without a lawyer,” said Adriel Orozco, the report’s author and senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “Americans expect that every single person should get a fair hearing before a judge. While in the current moment of mass arrests and rapid removals that is increasingly difficult, having a lawyer is often critical in protecting a person’s right to argue their case.”
The report’s findings are striking:
Access to legal representation is a transformative safeguard in immigration court. From FY 2019 to FY 2024, 62 percent of immigrants without legal counsel were ordered deported, compared to just 27 percent of those who had legal representation.
The situation is even more dire for those in detention. In courts with the highest deportation rates, over 90 percent of cases involving detained individuals resulted in removal orders.
Geographical disparities in access to legal representation are pronounced. For example, non-detained immigrants in Honolulu had a legal representation rate of 70 percent, while in Harlingen, Texas, that rate plummeted to just 25 percent.
Moreover, the report highlights a significant shift in case outcomes between the Trump and Biden administrations. In FY 2019, nearly 80 percent of cases under Trump ended in removal orders, while that figure dropped to 40 percent under Biden in FY 2024.
The disparities outlined in the report are likely to worsen due to current policies under the Trump administration. Immigration courts are already grappling with unprecedented backlogs, and the ongoing mass deportation and detention campaign is exacerbating the chaos. This includes the reassignment and firing of immigration judges, the expansion of “fast-track” deportation processes, and other policies that limit individuals’ opportunities to present evidence or secure legal counsel. These developments raise serious concerns about access to justice for those in immigration court and the integrity of the judicial system itself.
“This report makes one thing clear: ensuring access to a qualified lawyer is a powerful way of protecting someone against unjust or erroneous deportation,” Orozco emphasized. “However, whether someone gets a lawyer depends far too much on their location, whether they are detained, and the prevailing policies. With detentions expected to surge due to record funding approved by Congress, having a lawyer is critical in a system that this administration is deliberately breaking down.”
The full report and an interactive data tool, which includes a court-by-court breakdown, are available for those interested in exploring outcomes based on location, detention status, and representation. This resource offers one of the most detailed insights into immigration court trends to date.
Source: Original article