The Issues
Our Immigration System
The United States is built upon a history of immigration and the immigration system is built upon the principles of reunification of families, admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to the economy, protecting refugees and promoting diversity.
Currently:
- Unlike criminal court, in immigration court an attorney is not provided for you if you can not afford one.
- Poor immigrants in detention are often left to pro bono attorneys, legal service attorneys, and law school clinical programs. It is estimated that only 2% of immigrants obtain counsel from these types of free representation. The remainder are forced to represent themselves in court.
- Immigrants, detained by the Department of Homeland Security, with no legal counsel, have a 97% chance of being removed from this country in removal proceedings.
- Immigrants in longer term custody are most commonly survivors of torture, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking/domestic violence, parents of small children, elderly, individuals with serious medical/mental health conditions and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) with longstanding family and community ties.
Issues and Solutions
Vulnerable Populations
The degree to which the vulnerable populations (including victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, the LGBTQ community, family separation, and unaccompanied/undocumented children) experience human-rights violations, trauma, a lack of access to care, and/or long-term periods of detention without any avenue of recourse will determine the extent of the impact on a successful integration for those allowed to remain, for those returned to the home country or those continuing on to new host countries. In addition to the standard resources provided throughout our guide, this dedicated section includes resources dedicated to and direct service providers (National and within the State of Maine) for each these individual issues.
Government Agencies involved with Immigration
With many different government agencies involved within our immigration system, each with its own process and procedure to obtain assistance, our guide provides a description of roles and responsibilities along with contact information and complaint procedures to assist individuals in finding resolution to the practices that prevent an individual from accessing resources.
Immigration Legal Terms
A 30 page compilation of legal terms along with definitions, used within the immigration system including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is provided.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
There are hundreds of acronyms and abbreviations used within immigration, a listing of acronyms/abbreviations used within the immigration court, Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, the detention standards and Immigration Laws and Acts is provided within this guide.