In his migratory crusade, Donald Trump’s administration has declared war not only illegal foreigners, but also those who defend them before the law. In almost four months of mandate, funds have been cut to legal assistance organizations and canceled contracts a. Now, in addition, another setback is announced for those who support an especially vulnerable group: the elimination of the National Program of Qualified Representatives, which until now provided help to immigrants with disabilities or mental problems.
The news – which impacts lawyers and almost 200 people with mental health problems, cognitive disabilities and traumatic brain injuries that benefited from the program – became known after a lawsuit filed on Monday night by immigration lawyers groups in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia.
Laura Lunn, director of Defense and Litigation of the Immigrants Defense Network of the Rocky Mountains, who is also one of the plaintiffs, said in a press release that “the government’s action to cut the funds for ex officio lawyers for people unable to represent themselves in immigration courts is not only ruthless and cruel, but also discriminatory against people with disabilities.”
The cancellation of the program was carried out on the same day that the United States immigration and customs control service (ICE) and an immigration court received the warning of a detained man who suffered from a mental illness and who, according to an immigration judge, needed a lawyer for his defense.
Since then the program is disabled in all states, except in Arizona, California and Washington, where it already existed after an agreement in 2013 for the collective claim related to the Franco-González case against Holder. At that time, the District Court of the Central District of California concluded that the 1973 Rehabilitation Law “demands the designation of legal representation as a reasonable adjustment for people in the judicial immigration procedures that are detained, without representation, and incompetent to represent themselves due to a serious mental health condition,” according to its page the Acacia Center for Justice, contractor that subcontracts several of the legal groups. that now joined the demand.
The measure means one more blow to the millions of emigrants without resources that remain in the country, and a gain for the Republican government in its purpose of accelerating deportations. From now on, people without the possibility of being able to defend themselves before a judge will be closer to being returned to their countries. They are also devoid of other types of assistance such as helping treatment, contacting missing relatives or programming medical and psychological evaluations.
It is one of the biggest crises that have gone through lawyers and law firm, who have been in Trump’s sights. Only a few days ago it was known that legally after the cancellation of contracts with dozens of organizations that attended their legal processes.
The American Imigration Council ensures that 95% of the minors who have lawyers attend their hearings before the Court, but only 33% do not have it, which can later end in deportation. Speaking to El País, lawyer Jonathan Shaw said that “children do not have funds to pay a lawyer and it is also difficult for judges, who cannot explain things to children. With these funds the same system works best for everyone.”
However, Trump is convinced that expelling millions of migrants. Recently, the president signed a memorandum in which he said that the lawyers were feeding an “unbridled fraud and claims without merit”, and asked the Department of Justice to sanction lawyers and signatures “who file frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious litigation against the United States”.
