New Report Shows Having a Lawyer is a Critical Safeguard Against Deportation
Washington DC, Nov. 20 — As the Trump administration intensifies its mass deportation and detention campaign, a new report from the American Immigration Council shows that legal representation is one of the most powerful tools to increase fairness in immigration court.
The analysis of more than 2.28 million immigration court cases from FY2019 to FY2024 reveals that having a lawyer dramatically reduces the likelihood of being ordered deported. The data also reveals that case outcomes vary dramatically depending on whether someone is detained and where their case is heard, factors that are increasingly undermining fairness in the immigration court system.
The report, Where Can You Win in Immigration Court? The Impact of Lawyers, Detention, Geography, and Policy, lands at a moment when the Trump administration is dramatically increasing the number of people targeted for deportation and narrowing their access to due process.
“The Trump administration’s enforcement surge is exposing just how vulnerable people are when they go into immigration court without a lawyer,” said Adriel Orozco, report author and senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “Americans expect that every single person should get a fair hearing before a judge. While in the current moment of mass arrests and rapid removals that is increasingly difficult, having a lawyer is often critical in protecting a person’s right to argue their case.”
The report’s findings include:
- Access to legal representation is a life-changing protection in immigration court. Of the immigration court cases decided from FY 2019–2024, 62 percent of immigrants without a lawyer were ordered deported, compared to 27 percent of those who did have legal aid.
- Without a lawyer, the odds collapse, especially for those in detention. Of the courts that had the highest deportation rates, more than 90 percent of cases involving people in detention ended in removal orders.
- Access to legal representation is deeply uneven across geography. Non-detained immigrants in Honolulu had a legal representation rate of 70 percent, while in Harlingen, Texas, it was just 25 percent.
- Case outcomes shifted sharply between the Trump and Biden administrations. Under Trump (in FY2019), nearly 80 percent of cases ended in removal orders. Under Biden (FY2024), that number was just 40 percent.
The disparities highlighted in this report are likely to intensify because of the current Trump administration policies. Immigration courts are already strained by unprecedented backlogs. The Trump mass deportation and detention campaign is creating even greater chaos, amidst the reassignment and firing of immigration judges, the expansion of “fast-track” deportation, and other policies that limit opportunities for people to present evidence or secure counsel. All of this raises fundamental questions about guaranteeing those in immigration court access to justice, and the integrity of the courts themselves.
“This report makes one thing clear: ensuring access to a qualified lawyer is a powerful way of protecting someone against unjust or erroneous deportation,” said Orozco. “But whether someone gets a lawyer depends far too much on where they are, whether they’re detained, and which policies happen to be in place. With detentions set to skyrocket thanks to record funding approved by Congress, having a lawyer is critical in a system that this administration is deliberately breaking down.”
The full report and interactive data, which includes a court-by-court breakdown, is available here. The tool lets users explore outcomes by location, detention status, and representation, offering one of the most detailed looks at immigration court trends to date.
The post Amidst Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign, Report Shows Access to Lawyers is Critical appeared first on American Immigration Council.
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