NEW YORK, CMC – The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) applauded the passage of a New York Metropolis Council decision on the precise to authorized counsel in immigration proceedings for Caribbean and different immigrants on Wednesday.
“As we speak’s decision in help of a proper to counsel in immigration courts by the New York Metropolis Council is an indeniable sign to Albany,” NYIC’s Government Director Murad Awawdeh instructed the Caribbean Media Company (CMC). NYIC is an umbrella immigrant and coverage group of over 200 immigrant teams in New York State.
“We can not afford for the established order to proceed,” Awawdeh added. “New York has been a beacon of hope to immigrant households for generations, and we should carry that legacy by enacting the Entry to Illustration Act.
“It’s a failure of our basic New York values for us to power immigrant households, together with youngsters, to symbolize themselves in court docket towards deportation,” he continued. “Truthful illustration have to be common, not prolonged solely to those that can afford attorneys. We thank the Council for his or her ongoing management and sit up for maintaining the great battle in Albany.”
New York Metropolis Council Decision 556 calls on the New York State Legislature to move and Governor Kathy Hochul to signal the Entry to Illustration Act. This primary-in-the-nation measure establishes the precise to authorized counsel in immigration court docket proceedings.
Sponsored by New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, Awawdeh mentioned the laws can be the primary within the nation to create a statewide proper to authorized illustration for folks going through deportation who can not afford it, whether or not they have not too long ago arrived within the state or have been New Yorkers for many years.
Shayna Kessler, affiliate director of advocacy for the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice’s Advancing Common Illustration initiative, mentioned: “Efficiently navigating the immigration authorized system is a frightening problem beneath any circumstance.
“With out authorized help, immigrants danger detention, deportation to life-threatening conditions, and everlasting separation from their family members,” she mentioned. “We thank the Metropolis Council for overwhelmingly supporting sustainable immigration authorized companies and the Entry to Illustration Act.”
Kessler mentioned Wednesday’s decision sends “a robust message to Albany that common authorized illustration have to be a prime precedence within the new yr.”
Camille Mackler, government director of Immigrant ARC, mentioned Wednesday’s passing of Decision 556 by the New York Metropolis Council is “a welcome improvement in our battle for the precise to illustration and underscores the significance of New Yorkers getting the precise to authorized assist when going through deportation.
“It’s easy: the info reveals that folks going through deportation are much more more likely to stay with their family members if they’ve a authorized advocate on their facet,” she mentioned. “New York thrives once we preserve households collectively, enable folks to contribute to their communities, and supply immigrants the steadiness to flourish.
“Our immigration authorized system is impossibly skewed to at least one facet, and offering authorized illustration is one of the best software we have now to uphold our primary ideas of due course of and restore equity to a basically unjust system,” Mackler added. “Governor Hochul and legislative leaders should acknowledge this and take the subsequent step this yr by passing the first-in-the-nation Entry to Illustration Act (S.999/A.0170).”
Awawdeh lamented that, at the moment, Caribbean and different immigrants going through deportation should not assured a proper to counsel.
“As an alternative, many who can not afford to rent authorized illustration are pressured to fend for themselves towards a skilled authorities lawyer,” he mentioned, pointing to a number of research that he mentioned “underscore the advantages of common illustration, with immigrants in detention over ten instances extra more likely to set up their proper to stay in the US once they have attorneys on their facet.”
For non-detained folks, Awawdeh mentioned authorized illustration will increase the chance of a profitable final result to 60 p.c, in comparison with 17 p.c with out it.
“Investing in authorized protection will promote equity in a system that units immigrants as much as fail,” he mentioned. “Funding for brand spanking new and expanded immigration authorized companies is a sensible answer to fulfill the wants of newly arriving immigrants in search of stability and an opportunity to work and help their households, shield immigrant New Yorkers liable to deportation, and put into place long-term infrastructure to equip New York to answer future immigration authorized companies wants.
“Passing the Entry to Illustration Act will tackle the uncertainty surrounding the state funds’s annual funding for immigrant authorized companies by making a proper to an legal professional for any New Yorker going through deportation who can not afford to rent one on their very own,” Awawdeh added. “These measures will shield immigrant New Yorkers susceptible to fraudulent schemes and promote financial prosperity, guaranteeing extra folks can fill job vacancies and construct robust communities because the state faces labor shortages and areas of declining inhabitants progress.
“Investments in authorized companies and the passage of the Entry to Illustration Act will promote group security and financial stability throughout New York by guaranteeing that extra dad and mom stay dwelling with their youngsters, extra important staff stay on the job, and extra enterprise homeowners proceed to spend money on and help our communities,” he continued.
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