Improving justice one case at a time

There are currently 540,000 people in deportation proceedings somewhere in the United States. Most will make their final stance against forced separation from their families and homes without an attorney. This is a shameful mark on our nation’s commitment to justice that should stop. Earlier this month, New York officials took a significant step in that direction by funding a state-wide network of attorneys to represent people undergoing immigration court proceedings while detained. More cities and states should follow New York’s lead. Despite what politicians frequently suggest, deciding [...]

California Supreme Court decision opens breathing room for migrants, alters typical political lineup

Last week, the California Supreme Court issued an important decision expanding the ability of migrants given poor advice about the immigration consequences of a conviction to obtain relief. In People v. Patterson, No. S225193, slip op. (Cal. March 27, 2017), the court unanimously held that a migrant isn’t barred from withdrawing a guilty plea that results in mandatory immigration detention and deportability simply because the plea form stated that conviction “may” result in adverse immigration consequences. Pursuant to Cal. Penal Code § 1016.5, all defendants are provided this generic [...]

Beyond Rhetoric: “Sanctuary” in Practice

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended 680 people over the last week, pointing to the increased role of federal agencies in immigration detention under the Trump administration. While this is still a lower number than the weekly average detained under the Obama administration, it does represent a much larger share of detentions for ICE specifically. Three recent cases of ICE overreach stand out as examples: Guadalupe García de Rayos, an Arizona mother who had checked in with ICE regularly since 2013 to review her status, arrived for her scheduled meeting last week [...]

DHS issues border policing plans

In response to President Trump’s January 25 executive order on border policing, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo with details about how it plans to carry out the president’s directives. The memo promises to further militarize the Mexican border, expand the nation’s already unprecedented immigration detention capacity, and skirt the immigration court system. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly signed the memo, titled “Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies,” on February 20, 2017. The memo consists of instructions [...]

Immigration courts busy as obstacles to representation continue, government statistics reveal

Without much fanfare, last month the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, the agency that oversees the nation’s immigration courts, released its important annual compilation of statistical data. Though the report isn’t the only source of information about the immigration court system, it is a hugely valuable glimpse into the front-line adjudication of migrants’ attempts to remain in the United States. The fiscal year 2015 report, released in April 2016, reveals an immigration court system that continues to process hundreds of thousands of removal cases with glaring [...]

Justice Scalia’s Crimmigration Legacy

Andrea Sáenz Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent passing has spurred a wealth of commentary about his career and legal philosophy, including the recognition that the legendary conservative jurist issued a number of rulings sympathetic to criminal defendants [see here, here, or here]. What have attracted less notice so far are his consistent votes for noncitizens in cases involving the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, or for defendants in cases involving the sentencing consequences of prior convictions. In both types of cases, Scalia was an extremely reliable vote [...]

Mass. Expands “Reasonable Inquiry” for Criminal Defense Counsel

By Thamys Gaertner In October 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts expanded on the duty of criminal defense attorneys’ to reasonably inquire into clients’ immigration status in cases involving refugees or asylees. Pavel Lavrinenko immigrated to the United States with his family as a refugee in 2000. Commonwealth v. Lavrinenko, 38 N.E.3d 278, 282-83 (Mass. 2015). The family fled Russia to escape religious persecution by the Russian government. Id. On April 10, 2005, Mr. Lavrinenko crashed into a lamp post while driving intoxicated, leading officers to a foot pursuit into a [...]

Utah Supreme Court: When all else fails, civil procedure can remedy ineffective assistance of counsel

By Sarah Flinn Sergio Meza filed an action under Utah state law for ineffective assistance of counsel after learning of the immigration consequences for his no contest plea to two drug charges pursuant to a plea in abeyance agreement. Meza v. State, 2015 WL 4878268, at *1 (Utah Aug. 14, 2015). Mr. Meza asserted that he had a right to relief under the Post-Conviction Remedies Act of Utah (PCRA) due to the ineffective assistance of counsel, namely, the failure of his attorney to advise him of the immigration consequences of his plea. Id. The Supreme Court of Utah ultimately concluded that Mr. [...]