US pauses immigrant legal orientation program

The immigrant legal orientation program has been paused by the US administration led by Trump. This program assists millions of immigrants to navigate through the intricate immigration court system of the US. It has an annual allocation of 8 million $.

The immigrant legal orientation program is aimed at migrants facing deportation proceedings. It is now put on hold subject to review, as quoted by the Economic Times. This has been revealed by the Department of Justice in the US that manages the immigration courts.

The move to pause immigrant legal orientation program has enraged the immigrant advocates. They said that it is a lifeline for those who seek refuge and other migrants that do not have lawyers. Every single day of non-operational legal program endangers the unity of families and harms the communities, added the advocates.

The pausing of the program is an infringement of the rights of the people that assist them to make informed decisions regarding their legal claims. This was as per the press release of the Vera Institute of Justice based in New York.

The program offering legal orientation to migrants assists more than 50,000 individuals in cases of immigration detention. It was launched in 2003, informed Vera. Migrants that cannot afford lawyers or find attorneys for their cases for free of cost are required to represent themselves in the deportation cases faced by them. For the majority of them, this program is the only source of legal assistance in an overwhelming and complex system.

Group sessions with immigrants facing detention are held by advocates. This offers an overview of proceedings for deportation and orientation for their individual cases as well. The US immigration courts are facing an overwhelming backlog of 600,000+ cases.

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