The ABA’s reaction to the DOJ’s order to stop legal assistance to immigrants
Immigration Law
Behind the scenes as the ABA reacts to DOJ’s order to stop providing legal support to immigrants
January 30, 2025, 2:18 pm CST
“It’s a fundamental gap that we have filled over the years to ensure that people have not only access to counsel but access to fundamental understanding of their basic legal rights,” says Michelle Jacobson, the chair of the ABA Commission on Immigration. (Image from Shutterstock)
Jan. The Immigration Justice Project attorneys of the ABA began their day on 22 as a normal one. Some were leading self help workshops for asylum seekers who did not speak English and could not afford lawyers at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, San Diego. Other volunteers were at the San Diego Immigration Court where they helped unrepresented families understand their rights and responsibilities. And still others were drafting motions for children who had upcoming hearings and filing deadlines in their removal proceedings.
But shortly after noon, an order from the U.S. Department of Justice changed everything. The DOJ ordered legal services providers to stop working on several legal programs that use federal funding to assist people, children and families at risk of being deported. This includes three of the Immigration Justice Project’s programs–the Legal Orientation Program for Detained Adults, the Immigration Court Helpdesk and the Counsel for Children Initiative.
“In a system with no right to court-appointed counsel, these are the only free legal resources available for many people whose lives and liberty are at stake in removal proceedings,” Cusitello wrote in her email.
The DOJ’s directive followed sweeping executive orders from President Donald Trump that aim to radically alter the U.S. immigration system. The DOJ’s directive followed sweeping executive orders from President Donald Trump that aim to radically alter the U.S. immigration system. The impacted programs also include the Family Group Legal Orientation Program and the Legal Orientation Program information hotline.
“It’s a fundamental gap that we have filled over the years to ensure that people have not only access to counsel but access to fundamental understanding of their basic legal rights and how to navigate the very complex process that is immigration proceedings,” says Michelle Jacobson, the chair of the Commission on Immigration. “It was just devastating to hear that we would basically stop overnight providing these resources.”
The ABA was one of three organizations that participated in the DOJ’s 1998 pilot of the original Legal Orientation Program, which educates detained adults on the immigration removal process and how to advocate for themselves in court, according to the commission. The ABA’s South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which is a federally funded national program, began serving immigrants in 2003 at the Port Isabel Detention Center, Los Fresnos, Texas. Acacia Center For Justice, which manages the DOJ order, says that those impacted served 192,000 people between September 20,22 and September 20,24. “This decision undermines the due process and puts people’s lives at risk. It disproportionately affects those who are already facing great hardship,” said Shaina Aer, executive director of Acacia Center for justice, in a press release. “We are prepared to work with the Department of Justice in order to review and quickly restore these essential services so that Acacia, and our partners, can continue to deliver justice to all.”
The Legal Orientation Program, and its related programs, have long received bipartisan support by the U.S. Congress because government studies show they increase efficiency for Immigration Courts and Judges and promote cost-savings, according to Acacia Center of Justice.
In an email, Cusitello describes the immediate Cusitello wrote that the Immigration Justice Project attorneys at the Otay-Mesa Detention Center and San Diego Immigration Court had to tell their unrepresented clients they were leaving without knowing if they would be continuing to help them. “Some of the detainees inside Otay Mesa were in tears, facing looming court deadlines they were relying on IJP’s help to meet.”
Despite the suspension of these federal contracts, Cusitello said the Immigration Justice Project will continue its work to provide access to justice. She asked supporters to make donations to its Resilience Fund.
The Commission on Immigration also is seeking donations in response to Trump’s executive orders and the pause in federal funding for immigration legal services.
According to an email sent to donors Wednesday, contributions to the commission will help create programs and training for service providers, expand the free services offered through its national detention hotline, and recruit and train pro bono lawyers.
The commission noted that the detention hotline is one of the only remaining legal access programs for immigrants who are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
“We really need to look at private sources of funds now in light of everything that has happened,” Jacobson says.
Donations can be made to the Commission on Immigration or its separate projects through this website.
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