Thread: Migrants' right to counsel argued

By DAVID ROGERS | 9/3/14 11:15 PM EDT
POLITICO


The DOJ painted a dire picture of children getting counsel before any deportation hearing. | AP Photo

The Justice Department and immigrant-rights attorneys clashed before a federal judge in Seattle on Wednesday — a case dramatizing the split personality in the Obama administration over the question of providing counsel to child migrants faced with deportation hearings.

No less than Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate last year that it is “inexcusable” that young children “have immigration decisions made on their behalf, against them, whatever and they’re not represented by counsel. That’s simply not who we are as a nation.”

But in making the case for Justice on Wednesday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leon Fresco painted a dire picture of what would result if the court were to insist that children be assured counsel before any deportation hearing.

“A preliminary injunction which says that there is a constitutional right to counsel would mean — without an appropriation from Congress, which I believe is unlikely — that you could not remove any child under the age of 18 years old from the United States,” Fresco argued. “Meaning the border is completely open for children under 18.”

“The government cannot stop the removal proceedings of every immigrant youth in the United States,” Fresco said. “That would create a magnet effect that the United States is not prepared to handle. … That is free education for all those children being funded by localities and the states. That is whatever medical claims those children need plus an insecure border because you have now sent the message internationally that no one here is going to be removed.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly made no ruling at the end of the arguments, which ran close to three hours Wednesday morning. But Zilly wasn’t shy of interrupting and challenging the claims of lawyers on both sides. And more than once he sought to put the brakes on the fast-talking Fresco, a former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) an important player in the Senate immigration debate last year.

“Slow it down,” the judge said.

When Fresco challenged the court’s jurisdiction to act in this case, Zilly seemed willing to push back a little himself.

“The plaintiffs argue that there is a pattern and practice of the government to have these proceedings proceed in an expedited basis without the benefit of legal counsel unless they are retained,” Zilly said. “How do you explain that there is no case out there that has addressed this kind of fundamental issue?

“The question then remains if they can’t get retained counsel … whether it’s going to be a fair hearing if they don’t have the right to have appointed counsel?

“Hasn’t the law and even Congress,” Zilly added, “recognized that children are different and that they perhaps have different rights?”

“There are no ‘rocket dockets,’ your honor, from the standpoint of any policy of any kind that says you have to speed up the cases for these kids,” Fresco said.

“What there is,” he continued, “is one policy that says the first hearing for the kids has to happen in 21 days after the notice to appear is served, which is the indictment. But after that, if the kid cannot find a lawyer, the immigration judge can continue the case as many times as the immigration judge wants without penalty to the immigration judge. … There are no case completion goals for minors in that situation.”

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, the American Immigration Council and an arm of the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, are among the major players in the bringing of the suit. And the choice posed to the court frames a central question in the debate now in Washington over the fate of thousands of children from Central America who have crossed into the U.S. this year, unaccompanied by parents or an adult relative.

The plaintiffs are six children from Guatemala and El Salvador, all of whom face immigration proceedings this month, some as early as this week. It’s thus expected that Zilly must deal with the narrow injunction request soon, but also at stake is a larger class-action case with national implications.

“There are already, all around the country, proceedings going forward against children. … In Dallas children have been ordered removed in absentia,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, an ACLU attorney who helped present the case against the government. Children, he said, face a catch-22 situation, because if they later appeal on the grounds of not having counsel, the claim will be judged moot because they will then have counsel for the appeal.

“We have no ability to bring this claim any other way,” Arulanantham told the court. “If we are presenting a child, that child has no claim for appointed counsel.

“That’s the genesis of the whole jurisdictional problem that we have here. It’s the reason why the counsel claim is always ruled out and can never be heard in the court of appeals. For children who have counsel, it’s moot because they have counsel. Children who don’t have counsel don’t have the ability to file a board of immigration appeal.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...#ixzz3CMxCSbqM

by Tony Lee 4 Sep 2014, 12:03 PM PDT
breitbart



In a remarkable admission on Wednesday, the Obama administration's Department of Justice argued that granting a Constitutional "right" for illegal immigrant juveniles to have lawyers would make the border "completely open" for foreigners under 18 and attract even more illegal immigrants that the country can in no way handle.

Arguing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leon Fresco, according to Politico, said that "a preliminary injunction which says that there is a constitutional right to counsel would mean — without an appropriation from Congress, which I believe is unlikely — that you could not remove any child under the age of 18 years old from the United States." He said that would mean the "border is completely open for children under 18."

“The government cannot stop the removal proceedings of every immigrant youth in the United States,” Fresco, who was formerly an aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, according to Politico. “That would create a magnet effect that the United States is not prepared to handle... That is free education for all those children being funded by localities and the states. That is whatever medical claims those children need plus an insecure border, because you have now sent the message internationally that no one here is going to be removed.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and a coalition of pro-amnesty groups sued the federal government to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants until they received taxpayer-funded lawyers. Fresco made his arguments two days after Obama declared that he would fight for "immigrant rights."

There have been at least 63,000 illegal immigrant juveniles, nearly 90% of whom are teenagers, that have been detained at the border since October of last year. The Obama administration has released at least 37,000 illegal immigrant juveniles this year to communities across the nation, where they are eligible for various benefits and have been enrolling in schools. Federal officials expect at least 165,000 more illegal immigrants will be detained in the next fiscal year, which could put more of a strain on communities that are already struggling.

As Breitbart News has noted, the Obama administration has already "given $2 million in grants to provide illegal immigrant children who are awaiting hearings with lawyers." In addition, as Reuters noted, the Senate's comprehensive amnesty bill "that passed in 2013 has similar provisions to provide illegal immigrant children with taxpayer-funded lawyers." Clamoring for the right to counsel for illegal immigrants, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said, "no deportation without representation." And House Democrats have also introduced a separate bill in Congress to provide more taxpayer-funded lawyers to illegal immigrant juveniles.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...ion-Healthcare