Justice Dept. halts legal programs for detained immigrants, cuts off advocates’ access to facilities

Lawyers providing detainees with basic legal information in federal immigration detention centers were shut out of facilities last week after the U.S. Department of Justice halted several federally funded programs. One program provided lawyers to children in deportation proceedings and another dispensed basic legal information.

The move is part of President Trump’s broader push to weaken or sideline the parts of the immigration system that support detainees.

The Department of Justice declined a request to comment.

In an email sent last week, the agency told the national nonprofit Acacia Center for Justice, which coordinates the programs, to “stop work immediately,” citing Trump’s recent executive order. The order directs members of his Cabinet to pause funding for contracts and grants that provide services to immigrants without legal status. It calls for the termination of those contracts where it finds waste and fraud.

“The suspension of these longstanding programs could leave hundreds of thousands of vulnerable immigrants — including children and families — without access to basic legal information and representation,” said Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, in a statement. The group administers eight federally funded programs, including the four affected, working with a network of more than 130 nonprofit groups and private lawyers around the country.

The programs provided a help desk in busy immigration courtrooms, basic legal information for individuals and families in detention called a “legal orientation” and lawyers for minors, some who may be separated from their families, in the cities the programs served, including Los Angeles and San Diego.

Supporters of Trump’s immigration policies say they are necessary to expedite the removal of people not authorized to be in the country.

“The last four years were an unprecedented illegal immigration disaster,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista). “In response, Donald Trump campaigned and was clearly elected pledging actions exactly like this. He has my support and he deserves a chance to lead and succeed.”

The suspension of funding eliminates most chances for detained immigrants without a lawyer to get basic legal information about their rights, immigrant advocates say. And it comes as Trump has moved to fast-track deportations, eliminated policies stopping immigration agents from entering schools, churches and hospitals and suspended avenues to asylum. Unlike in criminal courts, noncitizens do not have access to free counsel, but have a right to a lawyer to represent them.

Andrew Nietor, a San Diego immigration lawyer contracted with the group, represents about 20 children from ages 8 to 17. Nietor said he will continue representing them despite the funding being pulled and pointed out that the program known as the Counsel for Children was in part established to alleviate backlog in courts.

“When a judge comes out to the courtroom and sees an 8-year-old sitting at the table, that’s gonna result in extended proceedings, more delays, more continuances, because all of a sudden this judge, who has an overwhelming caseload, now needs to figure out how do I explain to an 8-year-old what their rights are, what the procedure is, how to fill out an application for asylum, how to get supporting documentation,” he said. “The program actually helped efficiency in the courts.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign legislation in the coming weeks that would set aside $25 million for pro bono lawyers that provide legal services to immigrants and other groups they anticipate will be targeted by the new administration, including transgender residents.

Advocates say that in California, funding is only part of the problem. Detention centers are expected to play a central role in Trump’s still unfolding immigration strategy. During the last Trump administration, these programs had been halted — they were eventually restored under President Biden — but immigration officials had continued to allow providers access to work with detainees. This time, advocates were shut out of detention facilities.

“The U.S. government has consistently succeeded in federal court in its policy and legal position that there is no government funded right to counsel in removal proceedings.” said Aram Gavoor, associate dean for academic affairs at the George Washington University Law School.

Immigration courts are administrative courts subject to statute and policymaking of the president and attorney general, he said.

The orientation programs operate in detention centers often located in isolated parts of the country, far from the cities where immigration attorneys and legal services programs are concentrated. In California, privately run detentions centers operate in McFarland and Bakersfield in the Central Valley, near the border in Calexico and in Adelanto in San Bernardino County.

“Mass deportation starts with mass detention. And when you take mass detention and take away due process, access to counsel and transparency. You have a black site is what you have,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which oversees legal programs for those detained in Virginia. He told reporters on Monday that litigation challenging the pause will be filed imminently.

His staff had been in the middle of a legal presentation with a group of detainees this week when officials, with whom they had regularly worked, asked them to leave.

Lisa Knox, co-director of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, said she has heard similar stories from providers in California, where at least nine that provide counsel for children operate.

“Already there’s not sufficient representation and legal services for people in immigration detention,” she said. “And so the loss of this program further increases that gap.”

The number of cases in immigration court has quadrupled to more than 3 million since 2018, while those with lawyers have dramatically fallen. About one out of three people with pending cases before the court have lawyers. Six years ago that figure was two out of three, according to a congressional report.

Detainees without lawyers prevailed in only 3% of cases, according to one 2018 study.

Times staff writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.