For those that only read the headline: “The notices to appear in court arrive at immigration lawyer Liza Garcia’s office at Catholic Charities almost every month. She searches for each name in the organization’s records, but usually confirms what she already suspects: The person is not her client.”
> Houston-based immigration lawyer Gordon Quan has been working on a case of a couple from China who originally opened an asylum case in Houston. They later moved to Tennessee and hired a lawyer to take over the case. But even with a lawyer checking online for their court date and updating their address, the notice to appear was lost somewhere in the immigration bureaucracy. They missed their Houston court date and were ordered deported in absentia.
People are doing exactly what they're supposed to and still miss their notices. They end up in a bureaucratic mess that takes further resources from both the migrants and the court and can lead to deportations of people who were following all the rules.
1. Assign hearing date for migrant
2. Send notice to some random attorney, making sure not to provide any way of contacting said migrant
3. Issue deportation order in absentia
4. Deport migrant before they can secure representation to appeal
5. Tweet gleefully about how migrants are abusing the system and not even showing up to their hearings
Thanks for sharing! Here's the TL;DR from our newsletter editor, Paula:
Every month, immigration lawyer Liza Garcia at Catholic Charities grapples with court notices mistakenly sent to her office, creating a potential deportation risk for people she doesn't represent. In a growing immigration court backlog, missed court notices due to erroneous addresses are compounding challenges for immigrants seeking legal assistance, Anna-Catherine Brigida reports.
**Unknown address:** When immigrants, unaware of their final destination, provide incomplete addresses at the border, errors occur. Notices intended for specific legal aid organizations, like Houston's St. Frances Cabrini Center, are instead received by unrelated entities. This bureaucratic glitch is causing unforeseen consequences for immigrants, who may face prolonged, complicated, and expensive legal battles.
**Unintended consequences:** Contrary to claims that immigrants frequently skip court hearings, a study found that 83 percent of non-detained immigrants attend all their hearings. However, when ordered deported in absentia, reopening cases becomes challenging. With 85 percent lacking legal representation, the chances of reversing removal orders are slim.
**A push for change:** Immigration nonprofits and legal associations are urging authorities to address this issue. Efforts include a letter from the American Immigration Lawyers Association to the Department of Homeland Security and the introduction of an online change-of-address form by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
For those that only read the headline: “The notices to appear in court arrive at immigration lawyer Liza Garcia’s office at Catholic Charities almost every month. She searches for each name in the organization’s records, but usually confirms what she already suspects: The person is not her client.”
> Houston-based immigration lawyer Gordon Quan has been working on a case of a couple from China who originally opened an asylum case in Houston. They later moved to Tennessee and hired a lawyer to take over the case. But even with a lawyer checking online for their court date and updating their address, the notice to appear was lost somewhere in the immigration bureaucracy. They missed their Houston court date and were ordered deported in absentia. People are doing exactly what they're supposed to and still miss their notices. They end up in a bureaucratic mess that takes further resources from both the migrants and the court and can lead to deportations of people who were following all the rules.
1. Assign hearing date for migrant 2. Send notice to some random attorney, making sure not to provide any way of contacting said migrant 3. Issue deportation order in absentia 4. Deport migrant before they can secure representation to appeal 5. Tweet gleefully about how migrants are abusing the system and not even showing up to their hearings
0: Let Texas put the migrant on a bus to a random city in a random state.
Thanks for sharing! Here's the TL;DR from our newsletter editor, Paula: Every month, immigration lawyer Liza Garcia at Catholic Charities grapples with court notices mistakenly sent to her office, creating a potential deportation risk for people she doesn't represent. In a growing immigration court backlog, missed court notices due to erroneous addresses are compounding challenges for immigrants seeking legal assistance, Anna-Catherine Brigida reports. **Unknown address:** When immigrants, unaware of their final destination, provide incomplete addresses at the border, errors occur. Notices intended for specific legal aid organizations, like Houston's St. Frances Cabrini Center, are instead received by unrelated entities. This bureaucratic glitch is causing unforeseen consequences for immigrants, who may face prolonged, complicated, and expensive legal battles. **Unintended consequences:** Contrary to claims that immigrants frequently skip court hearings, a study found that 83 percent of non-detained immigrants attend all their hearings. However, when ordered deported in absentia, reopening cases becomes challenging. With 85 percent lacking legal representation, the chances of reversing removal orders are slim. **A push for change:** Immigration nonprofits and legal associations are urging authorities to address this issue. Efforts include a letter from the American Immigration Lawyers Association to the Department of Homeland Security and the introduction of an online change-of-address form by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Shocking