Council, Partners, Renew Advocacy For Meaningful Access to Counsel in Detention

Letters

Published: November 21, 2023

The American Immigration Council, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and nearly 90 legal service provider organizations sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner highlighting the obstacles to attorney access that exist in immigration detention facilities nationwide and making recommendations for improvements.

The letter describes barriers people in detention face in accessing legal representation and calls for an end to the restrictions placed on the most basic modes of communication that detained people need to connect with their lawyers and the rest of the outside world. It also provides recommendations to remove these obstacles and ensure adequate access to counsel and a meaningful opportunity for people to represent themselves. It emphasizes that ICE must implement interim measures to guarantee access to counsel at smaller facilities as it expands the Virtual Visitation Program at larger ones. ICE must likewise implement rigorous oversight of all access to counsel requirements.

Related Resources

Map The Impact

Explore immigration data where you live

Our Map the Impact tool has comprehensive coverage of more than 100 data points about immigrants and their contributions in all 50 states and the country overall. It continues to be widely cited in places ranging from Gov. Newsom’s declaration for California’s Immigrant Heritage Month to a Forbes article and PBS’ Two Cents series that targets millennials and Gen Z.

100+

datapoints about immigrants and their contributions

Make a contribution

Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.

logoimg