Undocumented and Unrepresented: The Solution to California’s Due Process Crisis

The human cost of detention and deportation has thousands of faces. Children, grandparents, parents, coworkers and neighbors, the majority of whom have endured the grave consequences of deportation proceedings without legal counsel.

In California alone, two out of three detained immigrants go unrepresented in our immigration courts each year.

Our broken immigration system continues to systematically tear families apart and drive a wedge in our communities. We can and must do more to end the tide of mass deportation and build strong, safe communities and families for all of us.

Where Are We Now?

This week, with The California Coalition for Universal Representation, we released “California’s Due Process Crisis: Access to Legal Counsel for Detained Immigrants.”

In 2015, 7,400 detained immigrants went before a California immigration judge without counsel and faced the uphill battle of threading the labyrinth of our U.S. immigration system alone. People who had counsel were five times more successful in staying with their families as did their unrepresented counterparts. 

This report adds to the growing body of research and evidence about why legal representation in deportation proceedings is so important: access to counsel for deportation proceedings means the difference between keeping families together or tearing them apart.

What’s the solution?

California needs and should adopt a universal representation program to ensure that all immigrants are protected and represented.

New York City tested a similar model, and it worked. A pilot program of 200 cases proved so successful they expanded it to provide publically-funded representation to all detained immigrants whose cases are heard in New York City. With equitable access to counsel, people have been ten times more likely to successfully demonstrate their case and stay with their families.  

This means thousands of mothers and fathers raising, nurturing, and providing for their children and families. So why not adopt a similar program in California?

Too many of our families are being unjustly torn apart. As we work to end mass deportation, an important step in that process will be for California to create a publicly-funded program and provide government-appointed counsel to detained immigrants in deportation proceedings.

Now is the time for California to live up to its promise as a leader in this work, and adopt a statewide program that provides universal representation to detained immigrants.

Angélica Salceda is a Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.