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Jeff Sessions' Justice Department Halts Legal Advice Program for Immigrants
The neo-conservative, alt-right, and Republican leaders pulling Trumps strings continue to achieve their goals without any publicity. It's seemingly "small" things like this that ruins the lives of human beings but happen under the radar and get lost in the deluge of awful news.
The U.S. immigration courts will temporarily halt a program that offers legal assistance to detained foreign nationals facing deportation....
Officials informed the Vera Institute of Justice that starting this month it will pause the nonprofit’s Legal Orientation Program, which last year held information sessions for 53,000 immigrants in more than a dozen states
The federal government will also evaluate Vera’s “help desk,” which offers tips to non-detained immigrants facing deportation proceedings in the Chicago, Miami, New York, Los Angeles and San Antonio courts.
The intent of this action is clear. The Republican Party is thrilled to do everything they can outside of the legislative process to destroy the immigration system.
....the programs administered by Vera and a network of 18 other nonprofits are a legal lifeline for undocumented immigrants.
“This is a blatant attempt by the administration to strip detained immigrants of even the pretense of due-process rights,” said Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center
We already know the answer their nonsense, xenophobic question about whether to continue to the program. The answer is YES the program should be continued. This is an example of an efficient, effective government program.
....a 2012 study by the Justice Department concluded that the program was “a cost-effective and efficient way to promote due process” that saved the government nearly $18 million over one year.
“Experience has shown that the LOP has had positive effects on the immigration court process: detained individuals make wiser, more informed, decisions and are more likely to obtain representation; non-profit organizations reach a wider audience of people with minimal resources; and, cases are more likely to be completed faster, resulting in fewer court hearings and less time spent in detention,” the agency’s website says.
Yet Trump's cronies are quietly ending it, claiming it wastes money. Unbelievable....again.