ProBAR [PDF]

ProBAR Texas Border Asylum Project

Snapshot of Accomplishments ProBAR had a very successful year in 2002. Besides closing 934 individual cases (including counsel and advice), ProBAR received considerable media attention which resulted in a significant increase in volunteers. In 2002, a total of 49 lawyers, law graduates, law students and paralegals volunteered with ProBAR, sixteen more than last year. One reason for the increase in volunteers was the publication of several articles in prominent bar publications highlighting volunteer opportunities with ProBAR. Two articles appeared in the American Bar Association’s “Student Lawyer” magazine and another two in the State Bar of Texas’s “LegalFront” magazine. Furthermore, several of our attorney volunteers have returned to ProBAR for repeat visits to take additional cases. ProBAR’s legal rights presentation project continued unabated. Each week day, ProBAR staff provided live, legal rights presentations to INS detainees at the Port Isabel Service Processing Center. In 2002, ProBAR staff provided rights presentations to 4,633 adult detainees. ProBAR staff offer individual legal counseling to unrepresented individuals after the rights presentations and select cases from those detainees. In highlights of closed, represented cases, ProBAR represented sixteen asylum seekers and three people applying for withholding of removal, winning over 70 percent of the cases. We represented eight clients in cancellation of removal and 212(c) cases, winning 100 percent of these cases. We filed four motions to terminate proceedings based on erroneous charges and were successful on all four cases. We were also successful in helping six people show that they were United States citizens through claims for acquired citizenship. Without ProBAR, thousands of INS detainees would be completely ignorant of the legal process and legal remedies and many more would be forced to proceed in court on their own or simply give up and request removal.

Cameron

This Provider At a Glance Population Served:

Immigrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees Area Served: Cameron County 2002 Funding (Total): $160,004 TEAJF Grants (Total): $19,415 Program Size Total Staff: 2.5 Lawyers: 2 Other Staff: 0.5 Phone Contact: (956) 425-9231

Types of Services Provided Direct Civil Legal Representation Brief Services Extended Services Hotlines and Other Phone-Based Services Community Legal Education Pro Se Assistance Support for Other Service Providers Major Cases or Other Advocacy Projects Direct Legal Representation of Groups

l l m l l l m m

Continued on last page

ProBAR - 1

Help With Immigration Matters... 934 People and Their Families Benefited from Direct Civil Legal Representation Extended Representation Outcomes l 232 people and their families obtained representation in court l 9 people and their families obtained preparation of a brief l 6 people and their families obtained representation before BCIS l 1 person and their family obtained filing of a Notice of Appeal Brief Representation Benefits l 620 people and their families received legal advice & counsel l 29 people and their families received assistance with self-representation l 37 people and their families received other brief representation services

Note: Individuals receiving assistance from this organization often receive multiple benefits. Figures above indicate highest level of service.

Examples...

Outcomes for Clients

R

eyes is a warm and gregarious man, originally from Mexico, who had lived in the United States since 1982, in undocumented status. He supported his wife and four U.S. citizen children by knocking on doors and offering his services for yard work and general maintenance and construction. Reyes had never been convicted of a crime and was an upstanding member of his church. Border Patrol arrested Reyes in Harlingen, Texas, in June of 2002. After his arrest, he was spared detention but put into deportation proceedings. All the attorneys he had visited had told him that he had no chance of winning his case. In order to remain in the United States Reyes had to show “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to his children if he were to be deported. Because all of Reyes’s children were young, and in good health, most of the lawyers and legal advocates thought he would not win, but Reyes was determined to make his case to the judge. Reyes met the ProBAR coordinator at the local court, and requested help. ProBAR accepted the case, assigning a law student group to represent him. They worked for weeks preparing the witnesses and the documentation for submission to the judge. They documented the children’s excellent progress in school, their awards and the active Examples continued on last page

Breakdown By Legal Problem Area Total Comp. Remedy Review Voluntary Departure Asylum Change of Venue Other

ProBAR - 2

934 People 625 People 99 People 61 People 60 People 89 People

Voluntary Departure 11% Comp. Remedy Review 66%

Asylum 7% Change of Venue 6% Other 10%

Other Services Community Legal Education. In 2002, 4,633 individuals attended legal rights presentations provided by ProBAR. A total of 4,305 detainees attended this presentation the day before their first master calendar hearing. The other 328 attended about one week after arriving at the detention center. Some of those counted in this section eventually become ProBAR clients either through direct representation or pro se counseling and advice. Pro Se Assistance. ProBAR provides rights presentations to both adults and children detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In these presentations ProBAR offers individual counseling sessions to detainees who want to ask further questions or apply for relief. ProBAR distributes pro se materials at these presentations and makes materials available to the detainees

at the adult facility library. ProBAR assists detainees both through direct representation and pro se assistance. The decision whether to represent someone or not depends on the merits of their case and the availability of volunteers and/or staff to take the case. We also assist many detainees by helping to fill out their applications and preparing submissions of evidence to support their claim. Some of the detainees want nothing more than to request deportation and return home. One of the four immigration judges does not like to deport someone without counsel. She wants to make sure that the detainees are aware of any rights they may have and those rights they may be giving up by requesting deportation. She often asks ProBAR staff to step in and represent these detainees. This is work I consider comparable to a help desk at court.

The TEAJF Grant(s) IOLTA Funding:

$ 19,415

The IOLTA Grant: Proyecto Libertad’s contract states that the purpose of the IOLTA funds is to provide civil legal services to indigent immigrants and persons seeking political asylum. ProBAR serves mainly the Port Isabel Service Processing Center, a BCIS detention center with a capacity to hold up to 800 detainees. The detainee population is usually somewhere between 700 and 800 people at any one time. Most of those detained are from Mexico and Central America but others are also detained from Africa, Asia, South America, Eastern

Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. Immigration law is highly complex and changes regularly. Most of the people detained do not speak English and have little or no formal education. In Immigration Court they are opposed by experienced attorneys representing the government. It is difficult, if not impossible, for these individuals to effectively represent themselves in court without some type of advice or counsel.

Number of People Benefited by Legal Services Other Than Direct Legal Representation… Total: Community Legal Education: Pro Se Assistance:

8,457 People 4,633 People 3,824 People

ProBAR - 3

Support for Other Service Providers. On January 25, 2002, ProBAR co-sponsored a statewide training for immigration lawyers and criminal defense lawyers entitled “Criminal Convictions: Mitigating Their Effect on Immigrations.” This training was co-sponsored by the South Texas Immigration Council, Inc., ProBAR, the Hidalgo County Bar Association and the College of the State Bar of Texas. The conference was a great success in bringing together immigration lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, and judges to learn how to better serve immigrants in removal proceedings. South Texas Immigration Council, Inc., organized the majority of the training and put together an excellent manual on representing non-citizens with criminal convictions. ProBAR served as a resource for criminal defense attorneys and the Office of the Federal Defender in advising defense counsel about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.

Pro Bono Private Attorney Involvement The ProBAR Coordinator recruited a significant number of pro bono attorneys this year due to recruitment at national conferences including the national American Immigration Lawyers’ Association conference and the American Bar Association annual meeting. Our office also received significant press coverage and articles encouraging volunteer services in the American Bar Association’s “Student Lawyer” magazine and the State Bar of Texas’s “LegalFront” magazine.

Pro Bono Statistics In 2002, volunteer lawyers participating in our program achieved the following results: l Number of cases completed: 23 l Hours contributed: 900 l Dollar value of services*: $135,000 *estimated at $150 per hour

Sources of Funding Total TEAJF IOLTA Private Bar Foundations (other than TEAJF) Fundraising

$ 160,004 $ 19,415 $ 95,139 $ 44,000 $ 1,450

Foundations (other than TEAJF) 27% Private Bar 60%

Fundraising 1% TEAJF IOLTA 12%

ProBAR - 4

Outcomes for Clients Continued from page 2

participation of their parents in their school and community. The immigration judge granted the case without opposition from the Trial Attorney. Reyes received his green card and began working a permanent job at his church.

J

orge fled Guatemala after receiving terrifying threats in his native country. His tormentors threatened to kill his wife and children. Jorge’s only offense had been to work for an opposition political party. Jorge fled to the United States hoping to find a safe haven and spare his life and the lives of his family. Jorge heard the ProBAR immigration rights presentation while in detention and was released from detention on his own recognizance. Jorge then sought help from ProBAR.

Because Jorge had nowhere to go, ProBAR set him up at the local refugee shelter. ProBAR recruited a volunteer lawyer from New Mexico to take the case. ProBAR staff and volunteers worked long hours researching the political situation in Guatemala with a special emphasis on the conflict between political parties and extrajudicial violence. The INS sent an investigator to Guatemala to investigate his claim; the investigation was incomplete and inconsistent. Jorge’s pro bono attorney contacted an expert witness who provided a written affidavit in support of the case. After a full day of cross examination, the Judge found Jorge’s experience in Guatemala to be credible and granted Jorge asylum to live in the United States.

Snapshot of Accomplishments Continued from page 1

ProBAR has been providing these rights presentations since 1998. In a tremendous validation of ProBAR’s work over the past five years, ProBAR was awarded a one-year subcontract to maintain and expand these presentations, which virtually doubles ProBAR’s existing budget. The money originates from the Executive Office for Immigration Review and will be administered by Norwich University. The revenue from this sub-contract will not be available until 2003, but it will allow ProBAR to hire an additional attorney and paralegal to staff this project. Finally, ProBAR’s “Immigrant Children’s

Assistance Project” has become a leading project nation-wide in the representation of children in immigration proceedings. Over the past year, the number of children in detention has risen considerably. ProBAR’s children’s attorney closed 434 children’s cases in 2002 (included in the 934 total). She also serves as a resource to lawyers and law students across the country in representing children asylum seekers and undocumented children in state custody. Finally, ProBAR has worked with advocates nationally to lobby Congress to overhaul the way the U.S. government treats unaccompanied children in detention.

ProBAR - 5