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29 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES The Commission directs the Association’s efforts to ensure fair treatment and full due process rights for immigrants and refugees within the United States. It advocates for modifications in law and governmental practice consistent with Association policy, provides continuing education and timely information to members of the legal community and the public, and develops and assists the operation of pro bono programs that encourage volunteer lawyers to provide legal representation for individuals in immigration proceedings. The Commission was established by the Board of Governors in August 2002 to operate in place of the Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law and the Advisory Committee to the Immigration Pro Bono Development and Bar Activation Project, the two ABA entities previously responsible for work in the area. The Board of Governors has designated immigration as an ABA legislative priority since 1992. The ABA has been actively involved in reviewing national immigration laws for several decades and has adopted over 50 policies addressing the substantive and procedural rights of immigrants and refugees. Consistent with these policies, the Commission is pressing for legislative and regulatory reform to restore judicial review and other due process rights and to minimize the reliance on and effects of immigration detention. The ABA has actively promoted legislation that comprehensively, realistically, and humanely addresses the undocumented population and the need for immigrant labor. In February 2010, the Association adopted five Commission policy resolutions with detailed recommendations for promoting independence, fairness, efficiency and professionalism in our immigration removal adjudication system. In 2006-09, the Association adopted several Commission policy resolutions to support reform of our immigration laws, including policy advocating for a fair, humane, and comprehensive approach to immigration reform that favors keeping families together, promotes national security, preserves due process, and recognizes our economy’s need for current and future immigrant workers. The Association also adopted policies supporting reasonable immigration benefit fees; humane immigration detention conditions, including appropriate access to medical care; U.S. citizen sponsorship of same-sex partners for permanent residence, which was the basis of ABA testimony at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in June 2009; and due process protections for individuals arrested in connection with immigration enforcement actions or raids. Other policies developed by the Commission pertain to asylum and refugee laws, legal protections for immigrant survivors of human trafficking and related crimes, and the right to appointed counsel for immigrants. The Commission is working on several fronts to strengthen the ABA’s overall response to policies that erode traditional due process rights for immigrants, the growing reliance on detention for both adults and children, and the need to improve access to legal information and counsel for individuals in immigration removal proceedings. The Commission has testified on behalf of the ABA and engaged in high-level meetings focused on recommendations in the Commission’s recent, in-depth report: Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote Independence, Fairness, Efficiency, and Professionalism in the Adjudication of Removal Cases (2010). This landmark report was developed pro bono by Arnold & Porter LLP, whose team of over fifty volunteer attorneys and staff devoted more than 13,000 hours to the project. This extensive report prominently recommends creating an independent body responsible for 1 29 adjudicating immigration cases, and makes more than 55 additional recommendations for legislative and regulatory reform. The Commission works with the organized bar at the national, state, and local levels to address the legal service and advocacy needs of vulnerable immigrants, refugees, and newcomers. The Commission operates hands-on pro bono legal services projects off site in three states, as well as the national Detention Standards Implementation Initiative and the Fight Notario Fraud project. The three off-site pro bono projects, the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) in Harlingen, Texas, Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ) in Seattle, and the Immigration Justice Project (IJP) of San Diego, provide direct legal services and recruit, train, and mentor pro bono attorneys to represent vulnerable noncitizen adults and children. Project volunteers, who include members of the ABA and state and local bars, benefit from training and very close mentoring from staff; those who are not already ABA members get to see firsthand the worthwhile work that ABA staff are engaged in, as they develop representation skills and court experience working with underserved populations. The Commission’s oldest pro bono project, ProBAR, which recently celebrated its 20th year of operation, recruits attorneys from across the country to come to Texas and take cases. VAIJ enlists volunteer assistance for its “Attorney of the Day” program which ensures that no child facing deportation goes through his or her deportation hearing alone. The IJP, the Commission’s newest off-site pro bono project, has started a new program in collaboration with the San Diego immigration court, which is the first of its kind in the country: providing a legal orientation program for immigrants in removal proceedings who are not in detention. ABA leadership regularly visits these projects and raises awareness of their important work. Most recently, in November 2010, President-Elect Bill Robinson visited ProBAR and spoke to members of the bar and media about the difference that ProBAR and its volunteers are making. Commission staff in D.C. operate the two additional major pro bono projects. Through its Detention Standards Implementation Initiative (DSII), the Commission organizes bar associations, law firms, and other volunteers to visit detention facilities—primarily state and local jails—to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) national detention standards, which are in effect at over 250 detention facilities holding more than four hundred thousand noncitizens annually. The ABA negotiated these national standards with DOJ and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to ensure access to counsel and fair, humane treatment of detained immigrants. To date, more than 125 DSII delegations have taken place. The Fight Notario Fraud project combats unethical “notarios” or immigration consultants who engage in the unauthorized practice of law. This project refers victims of fraud to pro bono consumer protection attorneys to assist with civil litigation, and has developed a collection of resources including case material for attorneys who wish to bring civil cases against fraudulent notarios. The Commission has also developed consumer education materials and worked with a number of state bar associations and advocacy groups to develop potential legislation to protect immigrant consumers and best provide protections to those in need. Recently, the Commission met with members of the Maryland Bar Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) Committee, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) UPL Committee, and members of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Police Department and Office of Public Engagement to develop ways to educate Montgomery County citizens on the best practices to avoid fraud, and how to inform victims of fraud where to locate assistance. 29 The Commission’s pro bono projects benefit members of the bar as well as vulnerable individuals who have few resources at their disposal. In 2010, the Commission’s off-site pro bono projects represented and/or provided legal rights presentations and information to 5,329 adults and children including asylum seekers from around the world, most of whom were in immigration detention. Through the Commission’s pro bono projects, almost 1,000 individuals obtained representation. Representation affects case outcomes: noncitizens who are represented are significantly better able to access justice through our legal system. Yet currently about 84% of people in detention must proceed pro se in cases where the law is very complex and the stakes are very high. The Commission’s work assists in finding counsel when possible, and providing legal resources in other cases. The Commission’s D.C. office assists more than 3,000 detained individuals each year who contact the Commission by letter or phone, by providing legal referrals and basic legal information. The Commission is the only national organization which both accepts calls from individuals in detention facilities nationwide and provides informational materials at no cost. Many of the individuals who the Commission and its projects have reached will be able to remain in the U.S. as a result of the work of our staff and pro bono volunteers, keeping families together and enabling newcomers and long-term residents alike to remain or become contributing members of our communities. The Commission and ABA partner Division for Media Relations and Communications Services were awarded an Enterprise Fund grant to develop a Know Your Rights video for noncitizens who are held in immigration detention across the country. The majority of these detained individuals do not have representation, and about half have no access to EOIR’s Legal Orientation Program. ICE plans to show the video at every immigration detention facility nationwide—over 200 facilities. For thousands of noncitizens each year, this video will be the primary resource for information on legal remedies to removal. The script was developed in consultation with representatives from organizations with expertise in removal defense and rights presentations, and the Commission has received detailed comments on the script from ICE, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the DOJ Executive Office for Immigration Review. The video is currently being edited, and will be finalized this summer. Respectfully submitted, Karen T. Grisez Chair, Commission on Immigration June 2011 3