Legal Help For Illegal Immigrants

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2024-09-21

There are many resources available to people who are detained and in need of legal help for illegal immigrants. For instance, there are programs designed to provide legal assistance for immigrants facing deportation. For example, the Department of Justice administers the Legal Orientation Program, which provides know-your-rights trainings to unauthorized litigants in federal and state detention facilities. Congress appropriated $1 million to support the program in 2002 and continues to fund it today. In New York, the Immigrant Family Unity Project is an innovative program that provides publicly funded legal representation to every migrant detained in the state.

Unfortunately, not all unauthorized immigrants qualify for such programs. According to a survey of 67 legal organizations in 2014, 14.3 percent of unauthorized immigrants were eligible to apply for deferred action, a temporary reprieve from removal that does not provide legal status. Furthermore, nearly three percent of unauthorized immigrants were already citizens or were able to obtain citizenship through a family member. Despite the difficulties faced by unauthorized immigrants, the United States government is taking steps to reduce the likelihood of deportation.

The federal government has budgeted millions of dollars to remove unauthorized immigrants each year. If these funds were used to provide legal help to illegal immigrants, that would drastically cut down on unauthorized immigration. Of course, this approach will not solve the nation's immigration problem, but it would certainly be a good start. With this new program, the legal status of unauthorized immigrants could be permanently changed. It would help both the United States and the unauthorized immigrants who are living in this country.