Relief for immigrants as legal services restored after Trump-induced chaos
Source: The Guardian
Sun 9 Feb 2025 08.00 EST
Last modified on Sun 9 Feb 2025 08.03 EST
Immigrants and asylum seekers caught up in Donald Trump’s mass enforcement crackdown will at least have a better chance at knowing their legal rights – for now – after a court intervened to restore some vital advice services. Last month, the federal government issued a stop-work order targeting programs that provide information and guidance to people facing deportation, via services such as independent legal help desks.
But the administration was promptly sued and a temporary court order was issued that restarted four programs that had been abruptly halted by the Department of Justice. Even though short-lived, that unexpected break in legal services took its toll, after a chaotic week and a half of furloughs, cancelled detention visits and general confusion created a domino effect of inefficiencies within the US’s overloaded immigration court system.
The temporary court order restoring business as usual may be just that – temporary – as the Trump administration and its allies continue to fixate on attacking the few federal programs that secure some semblance of due process for immigrants.
“Often the people providers meet with are fleeing violence. They are just trying to protect their families and stay with their communities. They’re just trying to attend church, they’re just trying to attend school. So I don’t know in what world this makes sense,” said Kel White, associate director of learning and development at the Acacia Center for Justice, which administers the four programs targeted by the justice department’s stop-work order.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/09/immigrants-legal-services-restored-asylum-seekers
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