Some immigration rights groups are planning to file a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice, after the department issued a stop work order to multiple advocacy agencies.
Immigration attorneys and advocates spend hours in deportation detention facilities talking with people who have been detained. They aim to make sure they are aware of their rights and know what to expect as the process unfolds. If needed, they can assist in getting an attorney.
As President Donald Trump ramps up mass deportation efforts, immigration rights advocates say they’re worried they’re being blocked from informing people of their rights under the law, making the process less fair.
The News4 I-Team sat down with Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. The group works in Immigration Detention and Enforcement facilities in Virginia, where people detained in the D.C. area are often taken.
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“I think what a lot of Americans don't realize is it's not like on the criminal legal system where you get a free attorney. If you are an immigrant in detention, facing deportation, if you can't afford an attorney, you're going alone, and you may not speak the language. You probably don't know the intricacies of U.S. immigration law,” he said.
Lukens said last week DOJ told organizations that receive federal funding to provide legal services to immigrants to stop work immediately.
“Some of these folks that we meet with, they don't know why they were picked up. They don't know what happens next,” he said. “So, this is just like the smallest piece of due process. At Amica Center, that is something that we do in ICE detention centers in Virginia. And the Department of Justice put a stop to that program, funding wise.”
That included the work Amica Center and other nonprofits were doing to inform people of their rights in detention centers, Lukens said.
“Our staff were in the detention center because we would continue doing this without getting paid, because that's our mission,” he said. “Our staff were told to leave, that we could not even go into a detention center and tell people what's happening and give them an ability to figure out what's going on their case and find an attorney. And this is going to just destroy due process in the system.”
The I-Team reached out to DOJ with questions about the stop work orders but have yet to hear back.
Amica Center is planning to join other organizations and file a lawsuit as early as this week challenging the stop work order, Lukens said. He said his team is putting pressure on congressional offices to try to get back into detention centers and also to talk by phone with people in detention, as they try to help as many people as possible.
