XPost: alt.politics.immigration, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc
The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a program that provides
legal help to immigrants who are determined mentally incompetent,
according to a lawsuit filed by immigration legal groups.
The groups, which filed the lawsuit in District of Columbia federal
district court late Monday, said about 200 people were getting services
through the terminated program known as the National Qualified
Representative Program.
Attorneys said the end of the representation leaves some of the most
vulnerable immigrants — those with mental health issues, cognitive disabilities, traumatic brain injuries — in danger. The program ended in every state except for Arizona, California and Washington, where it was originally established as part of a legal settlement.
“People who suffer from mental illness in a lot of countries around the
world are at grave risk of torture and death,” and without counsel, deportation could subject them to those conditions, David Faherty,
supervising attorney for adult detention with the National Immigrant
Justice Center, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told NBC News.
The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond
to requests for comment. The Department of Homeland Security deferred to
the Justice Department on comment.
The program is the latest target of the Trump administration as it seeks
to accelerate deportations and dismantle legal programs that support immigrants. The administration also has been trying to choke off money
that pays for immigration attorneys who assist unaccompanied immigrant children. It ended orientation programs for detainees that informed them
of their rights, and it plans to replace lawyers representing children
and parents or guardians separated at the border under the previous
Trump administration with the administration’s own lawyers.
In a March memo, President Donald Trump took issue with immigration
lawyers, and directed the attorney general to take action against them
in certain circumstances.
The April 25 termination of a contract with Acacia Center for Justice,
the contractor that subcontracts with several of the legal groups that
sued, had immediate impact, Faherty said.
Faherty had informed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an immigration court that a man held in ICE custody had mental illness,
which he learned from a call by a family member to the National
Immigrant Justice Center’s hotline. An immigrant judge determined that
the immigrant was not competent and needed a lawyer. That same day, the
Trump administration pulled the plug on the program that would have
provided one.
Faherty said usually once an attorney is mandated, the National
Immigrant Justice Center would hear from the court to provide legal
counsel. But it has not been contacted.
Along with assistance going through the process, the legal groups help
set up forensic, medical and psychological evaluations; ensure there is
access to treatment; or sometimes help immigrants get in touch with a
lost family member, attorneys said.
Not our problem.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-immigrants-program-court-mental -illness-rcna205072
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