Letter to Mayor de Blasio Regarding Due Process, Universal Representation, and the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project

SUMMARY

The Immigration and Nationality Law Committee (Farrin R. Anello, Chair) drafted a letter on behalf of City Bar President John Kiernan to Mayor Bill de Blasio calling for the preservation of universal representation for all individuals detained and facing deportation in New York City through the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (“NYIFUP”).  NYIFUP is the first government-funded universal representation project in the United States for detained immigrants facing deportation. Detained immigrants face unique hardships and obstacles to due process exacerbating the stakes and the need for counsel. Non-citizens are often held for several weeks before seeing an immigration judge for the first time. Detention interrupts engagement in all the “essentials of life”—family, housing, work, and education. Through August 2015, NYIFUP attorneys were successful in reuniting detained immigrants with family members in 52% of their cases and winning 71% of their trials – a 1,000% improvement over the success rate for detained unrepresented non-citizens facing removal. The letter urges the Mayor to continue to “lead our nation in our fight for due process for all, and to provide appointed counsel to all detained indigent non-citizens in removal proceedings by providing full funding for NYIFUP.”