NEW YORK, CMC – A coalition of immigrant advocates, elected officials, partners, and impacted families says Caribbean and other asylum seekers continue to face deportation without legal representation as it announced a “coordinated effort” aimed at supporting the Campaign for Access, Representation and Equity (CARE) for Immigrant Families.
Many of the asylum seekers arriving in New York from the southern border of the United States are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella organization of over 200 immigrant groups in New York State, said that this campaign is pushing for “investments in holistic legal services and the passage of the Access to Representation Act” in the New York State Legislature, sponsored by New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and New York State Assemblymember Catalina Cruz.
“If enacted, this groundbreaking legislation would establish the first statewide right to legal representation for people facing deportation who cannot afford attorneys,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“The Access to Representation Act (ARC) is an opportunity to begin to address the cruelty of our immigration system and keep families and communities across the state together.
“Today, immigrants who cannot afford or access an attorney are forced to represent themselves in court, facing high odds of being ripped from their families and deported into unsafe circumstances,” he added.
“The ARA would rectify the punitive oversight inflicted on immigrant communities by establishing a first-in-the-nation right to counsel in immigration proceedings, extending the same legal protections currently in criminal court proceedings to immigration courts.
“This milestone legislation would also deliver long-term stability to our legal system by boosting the capacity of legal service providers and building urgently needed infrastructure to reduce the staggering case backlog while assisting immigrant New Yorkers in continuing to contribute to their communities and the state,” said Awawdeh, thanking the two legislators for their leadership during this “critical time for New Yorkers.”
Awawdeh said he is looking forward to working with the New York State Legislature “to deliver relief” to New York’s immigrant families and that the campaign has broad support from a diverse coalition, including the Vera Institute of Justice, Immigrant ARC, and over 100 organizations, legal service providers, labor unions, faith groups, and elected officials.
“Over the past year, New York has gained new residents seeking safety and stability, who urgently need legal assistance to protect their rights, secure work authorization, and build stability. Meanwhile, the number of new and longtime New Yorkers who have been left to face complex and high-stakes deportation proceedings alone has risen sharply,” Awawdeh said.
He said nearly 160,000 people, including Caribbean nationals, are unrepresented in New York immigration courts, “a number that has more than doubled since last year.”
Awawdeh said long-term solutions, including funding infrastructure for sustainable legal services and passing the Access to Representation Act, will ensure New York State is “prepared to welcome and support immigrants for years, instead of scrambling for short-term solutions.
“Universal representation is a sensible solution to promote safety, family unity, and economic stability, and has wide support,” he said, stating that 93 percent of New Yorkers support government-funded lawyers for people in immigration court.
Hoylman-Sigal said, “In high-stakes immigration cases, legal representation can decide between life and death.
“The data unequivocally shows that those with a lawyer are far more likely to prevail in court,” he said, adding, “That’s why the Access to Representation Act is a critical solution for immigrants and asylum seekers who deserve a fair shot to keep their families together in a system that is often rigged against them.”
Cruz said that “every New Yorker deserves a chance to defend their rights when facing our complex immigration system.
“Our state has the chance to set a national example by making strategic investments in immigration legal services and ensuring universal access to legal representation,” she said. “This is a tangible demonstration of New York’s commitment to justice and fairness. This commitment fosters trust with immigrant communities, enabling them to participate more freely in public life and the workforce, promoting public safety for all,” added Cruz.
The associate director for advocacy for the Vera Institute of Justice’s Advancing Universal Representation initiative, Shayna Kessler, said successfully navigating the immigration legal system is “nearly impossible.
“Without legal assistance, immigrants risk detention in dangerous facilities, getting sent back to countries where their lives are at risk, and being permanently separated from loved ones,” she said, adding, “With new urgency, let’s ensure New York is equipped to support strength and stability in immigrant communities.”
Executive director of Immigrant ARC (I-ARC), Camille Mackler, said that including the Access to Representation Act in this year’s budget is “the single most important action New York State can take to protect immigrant communities right now, whether they are long-established or recently arrived in search of safety and a new home.”
“The crisis of representation in immigration processes has gone on for too long, and many continue to try to navigate an opaque system designed to make them fail without access to basic legal orientation, much less a representative on their case,” she said.
Awawdeh said passing the Access to Representation Act “will address the uncertainty” surrounding the New York State budget’s annual funding for immigrant legal services by creating a right to an attorney for any New Yorker facing deportation who cannot afford to hire one on their own.
“These measures will protect immigrant New Yorkers vulnerable to fraudulent schemes and will promote economic prosperity, ensuring more people can fill job vacancies and build strong communities as the state faces labor shortages and areas of declining population growth,” he said.
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