The stop work order from the federal justice department was received last week by advocacy groups that receive federal funding, including Acacia Center for Justice, which supports Colorado’s network. Colorado advocates announced Monday evening that the order means it must suspend operations inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora and the immigration courthouse in downtown Denver.
It’s still not a good thing, but it carries a different meaning than the headline implies. This is closer to firing the agency on your payroll, rather than blocking the efforts of an independent agency.
I think the problem here is less the funding and more about potential client access
More than 85% of immigrants in Colorado fighting deportation and trying to prove their case for asylum or other legal ways to stay in the United States have no attorney. Many of those visit the advocacy network’s help desks and “Know Your Rights” presentations in the courthouse and detention center before they go into court to face an immigration judge.
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The order cuts off funding for “Know Your Rights” programs, which is how advocacy groups across the country screen cases for potential attorney representation, RMIAN director of advocacy Laura Lunn told The Sun on Tuesday. While the network’s 41 employees can pivot to other work, “without this initial touchpoint, it will be very challenging” to identify people who are detained who need legal support, she said.
“Our staff were in the detention center because we would continue doing this without getting paid, because that’s our mission,” he said. “Our staff were told to leave, that we could not even go into a detention center and tell people what’s happening and give them an ability to figure out what’s going on their case and find an attorney. And this is going to just destroy due process in the system.”
[Bolding added]
I think if the RMIAN attorneys tried to do another rights clinic at the detention center in Denver they’d be turned away too
FTA:
It’s still not a good thing, but it carries a different meaning than the headline implies. This is closer to firing the agency on your payroll, rather than blocking the efforts of an independent agency.
I think the problem here is less the funding and more about potential client access
This article doesn’t make it super clear if RMIAN attorneys were ever actually turned away from the detention center or if they didn’t bother trying to go back, but attorneys at a similar organization in DC were turned away after this order came down (archived)
I think if the RMIAN attorneys tried to do another rights clinic at the detention center in Denver they’d be turned away too