Right to Counsel
We believe fair access to legal counsel in immigration courts is integral to a fair and just system. Our research shows stark disparities in representation rates, with only 37% of immigrants overall–and just 14% of detained immigrants–securing legal representation. Discover more about how we’re working to address this issue.
The Council Seeks Records on How the Government Interdicts Migrants at Sea
The American Immigration Council filed requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to learn about the process migrants go through after they are interdicted by U.S. Coast Guard personnel. Read More
Biden’s Executive Action Will Not Make Border More Orderly or Secure
The U.S. government needs to be able to quickly and fairly sort out migrants who have a valid asylum claim, but instead of investing in U.S. ports of entry, immigration courts, or more options for legal migration, the order focuses on harsh and arbitrary turnbacks. Read More
Council, Partners, Renew Advocacy For Meaningful Access to Counsel in Detention
The American Immigration Council and nearly 90 legal service provider organizations sent a letter to ICE Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner highlighting the obstacles to attorney access that exist in immigration detention facilities nationwide and making recommendations for improvements. Read More
Comment on Executive Office for Immigration Review Proposed Rule Regarding Restoring Appeal Procedures and Administrative Closure
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association submitted this comment in support of the proposed rule, "Appellate Procedures and Decisional Finality in Immigration Proceedings; Administrative Closure." Read More
Immigrant Rights Groups Sue for Information on Asylum Turnbacks
The American Immigration Council and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to compel the Biden administration to release information on its new policy of turning back people who request asylum without first obtaining an appointment via the government’s CBP One smartphone app. Read More
Court Allows Turnbacks of Asylum Seekers Without CBP One Appointments to Continue
A federal court in California denied a preliminary injunction in a legal challenge to the Biden administration’s policy of turning back asylum seekers who request protection without first obtaining an appointment via the government’s CBP One smartphone app. Read More
Letter Requesting Improved Language Access for Unaccompanied Children
The American Immigration Council joined a team of nonprofits across the country to write a letter to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Director Robin Dunn Marcos to express concern over lack of appropriate language access services for minors in ORR care. The Council and other groups urge ORR to develop… Read More
Seeking Records on Why Immigrants’ Hearings Are Being Moved Up Without Much Notice to Them or Their Lawyers
This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeks records from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) about its practice of moving up the date of immigrants’ individual hearings with little to no notice to their lawyers. Read More
Legal Service Providers Sue to Remove Barriers to Access to Counsel in Immigration Detention
Legal service organizations have sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for preventing people jailed at four immigration detention centers from having meaningful access to their lawyers. The barriers to attorney access at these facilities illustrate ICE’s failure to protect the fundamental rights of detained immigrants nationwide. At any… Read More
Challenging the Government’s Barriers to Access to Counsel in Immigration Detention Centers
This lawsuit challenges ICE's policies that have made it extremely difficult—and in many cases impossible—for people in immigration detention to access their attorneys. Read More
