⚖️🗽OUTING THE BIG NATIVIST LIE: EOIR/DHS CLAIM THAT MIGRANTS DON’T SHOW UP FOR HEARINGS REFUTED BY USG’S OWN DATA — Professor Ingrid Eagly & Steven Schafer Analyzed Millions Of Records To Show How False Narratives Drive Draconian Policies — Eagley, Shafer, Reichlin-Melnick, Schmidt Set Record Straight @ Press Conference!

Steven Shafer ESQUIRE — Steven Shafter, Esquire
Managing Attorney
Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project
Los Angeles, CA
Photo: Esperanza website

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
Policy Counsel
American Immigration Council
Photo: Twitter

PRESS RELEASE

11 Years of Government Data Reveal That Immigrants Do Show Up for Court

Due Process and the Courts Immigration Courts

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January 28, 2021

WASHINGTON—A new report released today by the American Immigration Council examines 11 years of government data on the rate at which immigrants appear for hearings in U.S. immigration court. The report, “Measuring In Absentia Removal in Immigration Court,” concludes that an overwhelming 83% of immigrants attend their immigration court hearings, and those who fail to appear in court often did not receive notice or faced hardship in getting to court.

As the new administration of President Joe Biden considers how to reform the immigration system, including the immigration courts, this report reveals how reliance on detention, access to legal representation, and immigration judges’ docket management impact immigrants’ appearance rate.

The report draws on government data from 2,797,437 immigration court removal proceedings held between 2008 to 2018. It documents how individuals who were never detained and those who were released from detention proceeded through court and what obstacles they faced in pursuing their immigration cases.

The report finds that people released from immigration detention and individuals with attorneys overwhelmingly attend their hearings. Data also show that immigration judges have a vital role in maintaining due process. The findings further demonstrate that the creation of an independent structure for the immigration courts would help reduce the prevalence of unwarranted in absentia removal orders and give immigration judges more discretion in managing their dockets and individual case decisions.

The main findings of the report include:

83% of nondetained immigrants with completed or pending removal cases attended all of their hearings.

96% of nondetained immigrants represented by a lawyer attended all of their hearings.

15% of those who were ordered deported because they did not appear in court successfully reopened their cases and had their removal orders rescinded. In some years, as many as 20% of all orders of removal for missing court were later overturned.

Individuals who apply for relief from removal have especially high rates of appearance.

Appearance rates vary strongly based on the immigration court’s location.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review’s method for measuring the rate at which immigrants fail to appear in court presents a limited picture of the frequency of missed court appearances.

“The empirical research presented in this report debunks the myth that immigrants don’t show up for court,” said Ingrid Eagly, professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. “Relying on the government’s own immigration court data, co-author Steven Shafer and I find that, since 2008, 83% of all immigrants in nondetained deportation cases have attended all of their court hearings. In addition, over the 11 years of our study, 96% individuals represented by an attorney attended all of their court hearings.”

“Today’s report verifies what those who have worked in the immigration court system already knew: immigrants overwhelmingly show up in court. We hope that this data finally puts to rest a false narrative about immigrants’ appearance rates that past administrations used to justify restrictive and cruel immigration policies,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “After previous administrations spent years funding immigration enforcement to address a small set of individuals who miss court, the Biden administration has the opportunity change course. To ensure even higher appearance rates, the new administration should focus on updating immigration court technology, providing better resources to orient immigrants, and working to ensure that all immigrants navigating our removal system are represented by counsel. As Congress debates immigration reform, this report shows that it’s time to revisit harsh and punitive laws that require judges to enter deportation orders for a single missed hearing and which limit the ability of the government to appoint counsel.”

“The findings of this timely report confirm what many of us formerly on the immigration bench have known for years: represented asylum seekers appearing before fair, knowledgeable judges show up for virtually all of their immigration court hearings,” said Paul Wickham Schmidt, former immigration judge and board member for the Board of Immigration Appeals. “The findings refute one of the many ‘big lies’ and ‘bogus narratives’ promoted by the last administration to demean and dehumanize asylum seekers and wrongfully deprive them of their legal and constitutional rights. The Biden administration should pursue changes that would provide immigration judges greater independence and discretion and support the creation of an independent structure for the immigration courts.”

###

For more information, contact:

Maria Frausto at the American Immigration Council, mfrausto@immcouncil.org or 202-507-7526.

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Ingrid’s and Steven’s full report is available at the above link.

Here’s a printout of my opening remarks:

No Shows — Final

Lies promoted by Government officials and turned into cruel, counterproductive, and biased policies cost lives and undermine our system of justice!

A stunning 96% of represented respondents appear for all hearings! The obvious step for the Biden Administration is to “repurpose” resources squandered by the defeated kakistocracy’s cruel, expensive, ineffective “enforcement gimmicks” like detention in the “New American Gulag,” ludicrous Immigration Judge “dashboards,” walls, bogus protocols, and illegal anti-asylum rules and instead invest in public-private partnerships to achieve universal representation. Building on existing programs, it should be possible to get all respondents represented by trained and competent counsel or accredited representatives.

Notably, Professor Michele Pistone @ Villanova already runs VIISTA, an innovative, first class asylum litigation training program for accredited representatives. Put some Federal grant money into expanding it to meet the need for representation throughout America. These are “obvious steps” ignored by a captive “court system” run by malicious incompetents implementing a White Nationalist agenda.

Combined with a restoration of the rule of law at EOIR and rational DHS enforcement priorities, that’s the way to establish manageable Immigration Court dockets compliant with Due Process and fundamental fairness. Create a model court system that will be a source of pride, rather than a national disgrace.

Of course a legislatively-enacted, independent, professionally administered expert Article I Immigration Court is absolutely necessary. But, due process and fundamental fairness can’t wait! Lives and futures, not to mention our national values, are at stake. Judge Garland must end the dysfunction and start making urgently needed improvements @ EOIR immediately!

Removing (former) Director McHenry — who promoted the kakistocracy’s anti-immigrant myths, bogus statistics, and “worst management practices” — is a great start. But, it’s certainly not the end of the urgent changes that must be made to implement Due Process and professional court administration at EOIR. In particular, the current BIA is a due process, human rights, and asylum expertise “disaster zone!”

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

PWS

1-29-21

NDPA SUPERSTAR 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 SCHOLAR-INNOVATOR PROFESSOR MICHELE PISTONE’S CREATIVE, AMAZING VIISTA PROGRAM IS CHANGING THE FACE OF PRO BONO REPRESENTATION FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS ⚖️— At A Time Of Grotesque Stupidity 🤮 & Management Catastrophe ☠️ Inflicted By The EOIR Kakistocracy, Michele & Her Talented, Problem-Solving Colleagues In The NDPA Are EXACTLY What America Needs To Replace The “Clown Show” With Real Practical Scholars Who Will Lead the New Due Process Revolution! ⚖️👨🏻‍⚖️🧑🏽‍⚖️🗽🇺🇸

Creator & Developer of VIISTA

Michele writes:

I am thrilled to report that VIISTA is getting rave reviews. The inaugural class of students is really enjoying the course. They will be finishing Module 1 next week and will start Module 2 (with its focus on immigration law) in January. I am really impressed so far with their work product and the quizzes and other assessments confirm that they are learning what we want them to learn.

Students in the inaugural class come from diverse backgrounds. My current students include a Stanford college senior who aims to work as a paralegal next year, and eventually go to law school. Other students are recent college grads interested in peace and justice/law/social work who want to make an immediate impact for immigrant families. Some students are first-generation immigrants, others are children of immigrants. Some students are retirees or those seeking an encore career, like empty nesters and parents coming back into the workforce. Three PhDs also enrolled in the program. Many are volunteers with immigrant serving organizations.

I am now focused on getting the word out. Attached and linked here is a recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education and here is a link to an article from the Columbus Dispatch. And here is a link to the website, immigrantadvocate.villanova.edu.

Please help me to spread the word about VIISTA in your networks, including among volunteers with your organizations. You can also let folks know that scholarships are available for the Spring term, which starts on Monday, January 11.

The Scholarships are offered through ADROP, Augustinian Defenders of the Rights of the Poor.

You can read about the scholarship, the application process and apply at ADROP’s website: https://www.rightsofthepoor.org/viista-scholarship-program.

If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to reach out to Lacie Michaelson (cced here). She is the Executive Director of ADROP and took VIISTA herself as a student in the pilot.

Please note that the deadline to apply for a scholarship for Spring of 2021 semester is Monday, December 14th, 2020.

Thanks for helping me to spread the word and identify passionate advocates for immigrant justice who want to become part of the solution.

Warmly,

Michele

Michele R. Pistone

Professor of Law

_{Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law}

Founding Faculty Director, VIISTA: Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates

Founder, VIISTA Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates

Director, Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services (CARES)

Co-Managing Editor, Journal on Migration and Human Security

**********************

Michele, my friend and colleague, YOU are amazing!🦸‍♀️😎

With the echoes of my AILA keynote speech yesterday still reverberating across Ohio, here we are with the perfect example of why the EOIR Clown Show must go and be replaced by competent judges and administrators from the NDPA! https://immigrationcourtside.com/2020/12/04/🇺🇸good-morning-ohio-my-keynote-speech-to-aila-this-morning-🗽-an-ndpa-call-to-action-⚖%EF%B8%8F-the-eoi/

Over the past four years, what passes for “management” at DOJ and EOIR has wasted millions of dollars, squandered thousands of hours of time, and kept the private bar on a treadmill with a steady stream of moronic, cruel, and inept “enforcement only” gimmicks, each seemingly stupider and more counterproductive than the last, driven by a White Nationalist nativist agenda. The result is a backlog that has exploded to astounding levels, (even with twice as many judges on the bench, many of them with questionable credentials and little if any expertise in immigration and human rights laws) and a totally dysfunctional mess that threatens to topple the entire Federal judicial system.

As those of us who understand immigration know, the key to a successful EOIR is representation! With an adequate supply of good representation, cases get sorted out at the earliest possible levels, claims are properly documented and presented, individuals show up at their hearings at remarkably high rates, and results are much more likely to be fair. Presto, “Aimless Docket Reshuffling” by EOIR shrinks, parties are encouraged to stipulate and get right to the contested issues, results at trial are more likely to be fair, appeals, petitions for review, and remands decrease, and the backlogs go down as the dockets come under control. Moreover, as the Immigration Court litigation experience improves, more practitioners get the “positive vibes” and are willing to undertake pro bono or low bono cases. Best practices developed to achieve fairness on EOIR’s high-volume docket find their way into other parts of the Federal Court system. It’s an all-around winner! Or, at least it should be!

So, any competent, rational, and knowledgeable “management group” at EOIR would make increasing representation “job # 1.” They would work cooperatively and harmoniously with bar groups, NGOs, states, and localities, to increase availability and improve quality of representation. They would eschew unnecessary detention, which inhibits representation, and insure than courts are reasonably and conveniently located in areas where private representation is abundantly available.

Of course, that’s not what the clowns at EOIR have done! Instead, they have gone out of their way to inflict misery on respondents and their representatives. Far from inspiring more folks to undertake cases, we have all seen stories of how the intentional rudeness and abuse inflicted in Immigration Court and the dysfunctional system actually demoralizes lawyers and causes them to leave the field. Their “stories of woe” are hardly encouraging for others to donate time and effort.

Fortunately, while EOIR was busy ”kneecapping justice,” someone outside the “EOIR twilight zone” was thinking about how to solve the problem! With help from her friends, Michele designed the VIISTA program to train more non-attorney representatives to represent asylum seekers, convinced folks to fund it, recruited initial classes, and has it up and running. (By contrast, after two decades of wasted resources and incompetent meanderings, EOIR is still without a functioning e-filing system. Think that might have helped or saved some lives during the pandemic?)

And the training is not only a bargain (with scholarships available), it is beyond first class in substance and content. Essentially, it’s “what you really need to learn in law school in less than a year.” The curriculum would put to shame any training we received at EOIR, even before the current Clown Show. My Round Table colleague Judge Jeffrey Chase (a/k/a “Sir Jeffrey”) has reviewed the curriculum and agrees.

The solution is painfully obvious to anyone who takes the time to think about it. On January 21, 2021, give the hook to the Clown Show in Falls Church, and bring in the scholar/problem solvers like Michele and her NDPA colleagues to lead the due process revolution that will transform EOIR into a place where teamwork and innovation will produce the world’s best court system guaranteeing fairness and due process for all. That was once the “EOIR vision” before “serial mismanagement” transformed it into the ugly, dysfunctional Star Chamber that confronts us today.

It need not and should not be that way. But, the vision of true due process at EOIR will only be realized if the Biden Administration puts the right people — folks like Michele and others like her from the NDPA — in place immediately upon assuming power.

Let your contacts in the Biden Administration know that you have had more than enough! The EOIR Clown Show must go!

Due Process Forever!

PWS

12-05-20

EOIR clown Show Must Go T-Shirt — “EOIR Clown Show Must Go” T-Shirt Custom Design Concept

😎HERE’S SOME GOOD NEWS👍: My Friend & NDPA Superhero 🦸‍♀️ Professor Michele Pistone @ Villanova Law Recognized By The Chronicle Of Higher Education For Her Innovative VIISTA Program That Trains Non-Attorneys To Provide Great Pro Bono Representation To Migrants In Immigration Court!

The Chronicle of Higher Education featured VIISTA. Here is the story:

Article Link: https://www.chronicle.com/article/most-asylum-seekers-have-no-legal-counsel-this-villanova-program-trains-non-lawyers-to-step-in

The Chronicle of Higher Education (Oct. 6, 2020)

Most Asylum Seekers Have No Legal Counsel. This Villanova Program Trains Non-Lawyers to Step In.

By Katherine Mangan

Michele Pistone, a law professor at Villanova University, stands in front of Pennsylvania’s

York County Prison, one of the largest immigration detention centers in her region. Pistone

has created a college course in which laypeople can learn to advocate for immigrants.

The contrast, for a young lawyer in a high-powered New York firm, couldn’t have been clearer. In 1991, Michele R. Pistone was part of a team of lawyers helping Donald J. Trump restructure his massive debts as his Atlantic City casinos hemorrhaged money. Pistone, who was 25 at the time, recalls walking into her client’s office with closing documents and being greeted by an entire floor-to-ceiling wall of framed magazine covers with his photo.

Fast-forward a few months to the pro bono assignment that would change the course of her career and inspire her to start a program at Villanova University aimed at expanding legal assistance to immigrants and asylum seekers.

Volunteering for a group now called Human Rights First, she represented a father and son who had fled Somalia during a bloody civil war. The father, a minister whose life had been threatened during the uprising, had been charged with alien smuggling since his son did not have a visa. If forced to return to his country, the elderly man faced the possibility he could be killed.

About six years after she won their case, the son, who had just earned U.S. citizenship, and his father gave her a colorful straw bag as a thank you. It is a constant reminder, she said, of the power and privilege she has as a lawyer. “It was so amazing to be in a position to save someone’s life.”

Pistone, who led lobbying efforts in the mid-90s in Washington, D.C., to protect asylum seekers, estimates that she has helped free more than 100 clients from detention, including former child soldiers, women who fled gender-based violence, and children who fled gang violence.

As a professor of law at Villanova, her focus now is on making sure that more refugees and asylum seekers, six out of 10 of whom confront the immigration system alone, get that help.

After a successful pilot that ended in May, she started a program this fall to certify students to become legal advocates for migrants and refugees. “Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates,” offered through the university’s College of Professional Studies, is described as the first university-based, fully online program to train immigrant advocates. That format, planned before the pandemic forced most courses online, allows easier access for working professionals, including those in rural areas, and keeps costs low.

Graduates can apply to become Department of Justice “accredited representatives,” non-lawyers who are authorized to provide inexpensive legal representation to migrant and refugee families. Accredited representatives, who must work or volunteer for a recognized group like a nonprofit or faith-based organization, can sign legal documents, accompany clients to interviews, and perform other duties a lawyer would handle in court.

In the United States, where deportation cases are civil proceedings, immigrants are not entitled to court-appointed lawyers the way they are in criminal proceedings.

Access to legal representation makes a huge difference, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. The nonprofit research and policy group found that immigrants are 12 times more likely to get available relief when they have an advocate.

“Tens of thousands of people each year go unrepresented, including asylum seekers, longtime legal residents, immigrant parents or spouses of U.S. citizens, and even children,” the Vera Institute notes. “They are left to defend themselves in an adversarial and notoriously complex system against the United States government, which is always represented by counsel.”

The Committee for Immigration Reform Implementation estimated in 2014 that at least one million of the unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. were eligible for legal relief and would be permitted to live in the U.S. if they had access to legal representation.

Few people facing the threat of deportation can afford to hire lawyers, and nationwide, there are only about 300 fully accredited representatives authorized to counsel clients in court, Pistone said. That’s where VIISTA hopes to make a difference.

The program is divided into three 14-week modules. The certificates students earn after completing each module authorize them to take on increasing levels of responsibility for representing immigrants. The first module, which prepares students to interview and be sensitive to the needs of immigrants, addresses why people migrate, the structure of government immigration systems, and cultural differences. The second and third focus on immigration law and train people to become partially or fully accredited representatives. Students can complete one, two, or three modules.

Among the students who completed all three modules in the pilot this spring is Eileen Doherty-Sil, an adjunct associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania who teaches about forced migration. It’s one thing, Doherty-Sil said, to teach about the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and quite another to represent a client who could face torture if returned to his home country.

The insights she gained in the program will enrich her teaching, she said. “Michele’s program gave us a really clear-eyed idea of what it looks like for someone to face a judge and say, ‘Please don’t send me back.’”

Without someone to advise him, an asylum seeker who fears he could be tortured or killed if he’s returned might instead say in court that his goal is to get a good job and be a good citizen. “They can’t possibly know that that’s the wrong thing to say,” Doherty-Sil said. Asylum is for refugees fleeing persecution, not for someone seeking a better life.

Pistone likens the development of specialized legal representatives to the growth of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the medical field. (The role is different from paralegals, who are trained to support lawyers within their offices but aren’t authorized to appear in court.)

The problem of representation became more acute as mounting tuition and shrinking job opportunities caused the number of law-school applications to tumble beginning in 2008-9. But even when people complained about a glut of lawyers, there never seemed to be enough people willing, or financially able, to represent the poorest clients.

“A lot of people in the legal academy think the solution to access to justice is lawyers, yet we’ve been trying for so long using lawyers,” Pistone said. The system, she said, is clearly broken. “It’s up to those of us in the system to come up with a viable, scalable solution.”

All three modules of the VIISTA program can be completed in 10 months, for a cost of under $4,000.

Pistone’s students have included teachers, social workers, and others who want to play a more active role in helping immigrants.

“I want to train 1,000 people a year,” Pistone said. “And if they each represented one client a month, that’s 12,000 families that are getting an advocate in immigration court.”

Michele

Michele R. Pistone

Professor of Law

_{Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law}

Director, Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services (CARES)

Founder, VIISTA Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates

Co-Managing Editor,Journal on Migration and Human Security

Adjunct Fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation

****************

Many well-deserved congrats, Michele, my friend!

As I previously mentioned, I am delighted to have had a small role in helping Michele get VIISTA off the ground.

To once again state the obvious: American Government and our Federal Judiciary need more “scholar problem-solvers” like Michele.

Due Process Forever!

PWS

10-07-20

🎓🗽⚖️👍🏼ATTENTION NDPA: POSITIONS AVAILABLE FOR PRACTICE-ORIENTED IMMIGRATION EXPERTS & PROSPECTIVE IMMIGRATION TEACHERS — Professor Michele Pistone @ Villanova Is Recruiting Paid Adjuncts For Her Amazing VIISTA Program!

Hi Judge Schmidt,

Can you share the below with your networks:

This fall, I am launching a new online certificate program at Villanova University to train immigrant advocates. The program is aimed at people who are passionate about immigrant justice but are not interested in pursuing a law degree at the moment, such as recent college grads, people seeking an encore career, retirees, and the many who currently work with migrants and want to understand more about the immigration laws that impact them. It is also attractive to students seeking to take a gap year or two between college and law school or high school and college.

The program is offered entirely online and is asynchronous, allowing students to work at their own pace and at times that are most convenient for them. I piloted the curriculum during last academic year and the students loved it. It launches full time in August, and will subsequently be offered each semester, so students can start in August, January, and May.

I reach out to you because I am now seeking adjunct professors to help teach the course. Adjunct Professors will work with me to teach cohorts of students as they move through the 3-Module curriculum. Module 1 focuses on how to work effectively with immigrants. Module 2 is designed to teach the immigration law and policy needed for graduates to apply to become partially accredited representatives. Module 3 has more law, and a lot of trial advocacy for those who want to apply for full DOJ accreditation. Each Module is comprised of 2×7-week sessions and students report that they have worked between 10-15 hours/week on the course materials. As an adjunct professor, you will provide feedback weekly on student work product, conduct live office hours with students and work to build engagement and community among the students in your cohort. Tuition for each Module is $1270, it is $3810 for the entire 3-Module certificate program.

Here is a link to the job posting:

https://jobs.villanova.edu/postings/18505

For more information on VIISTA, here is a link, immigrantadvocate.villanova.edu

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Also, please note that scholarships are being offered through the Augustinian Defenders of the Rights of the Poor to select students who are sponsored to take VIISTA by DOJ recognized organizations. For more information on the scholarships, visit this page, https://www.rightsofthepoor.org/viista-scholarship-program

My best,

Michele Pistone

Michele

Michele R. Pistone

Professor of Law

Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law

Director, Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services (CARES)

Founder, VIISTA Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates

Co-Managing Editor, Journal on Migration and Human Security

Adjunct Fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation

610-519-5286

@profpistone

*************************

What an fantastic opportunity to get teaching experience, work on a “cutting edge” program with my good friend and colleague Michele, one of the best legal minds in America, and to make a difference by improving the delivery of justice in America, while being paid a stipend!

A “perfect fit” for members of the New Due Process Army (“NDPA”).

Due Process Forever!🗽👍🏼⚖️

PWS

07-10-20

CONGRATS TO PROFESSOR MICHELE PISTONE! – NDPA LEADER WINS PRESTIGIOUS KAPLAN AWARD & GRANT FOR VIISTA PROJECT TO MAKE LOW COST LEGAL SERVICES FROM HIGHLY TRAINED & CERTIFIED “NONATTORNEY REPRESENTATIVES” AVAILABLE TO THOUSANDS MORE MIGRANTS IN NEED!

From: Tara Magner [mailto:tara.magner@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2019 8:13 AM

Dear Friends:

Please join me in congratulating our dear friend and wonderful colleague Michele Pistone on winning the JM Kaplan Innovation Prize for her project, VIISTA. Michele has been developing this idea for a few years now, with the thoughtful contributions of many on this list. It is wonderful to see her work recognized and even more exciting to imagine how VIISTA will vastly expand high-quality, low cost legal services for immigrants.

Here is the text from the Kaplan announcement, but please go to this link and watch the video, too. It is inspiring.

https://www.jmkfund.org/awardee/michele-pistone/

Congrats Michele! Best — Tara

MICHELE PISTONE

VIISTA

PENNSYLVANIA

Project Overview

Immigrants in America face a profound justice gap: six out of ten confront the immigration system without a lawyer. And that carries dire consequences: the Vera Institute of Justice found that immigrants with legal representation had an 1,100% increase in successful immigration court outcomes compared to unrepresented cases—leaving far fewer families torn apart by deportation orders. Unlike criminal proceedings in which defendants have the right to representation, immigrants are not entitled to court-appointed lawyers. And in a vast number of cases, immigration attorneys are out of reach due to access or cost constraints. As a bold solution, the Villanova University Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates (VIISTA) program will offer the first university-based, online certificate program to train non-lawyers to assist immigrants. VIISTA seeks to revolutionize immigration law by educating a new category of legal advocates, much like the role nurse practitioners play in health care. Under existing regulations, graduates will be eligible to apply to become Department of Justice “accredited representatives” who can provide low-cost representation. VIISTA’s scalable and affordable platform will build a nationwide pipeline for hundreds, if not thousands, of passionate advocates fighting to advance immigrants’ rights.

FIVE QUESTIONS

1What needs does VIISTA address and how?

Unlike criminal proceedings in which defendants have constitutional rights to representation, immigrants are not entitled to court appointed lawyers. Six out of ten immigrants confront the immigration system without a lawyer. Even child migrants are not granted free representation. The consequences are substantial: the Vera Institute found that immigrants are 12 times more likely to obtain available relief when they have an advocate. Lack of advocacy disrupts families and communities in life-altering ways. With each deportation order, families are separated, employers lose employees, and communities lose valued neighbors and friends. It is understood within the immigrant-serving community that we need more immigrant advocates. Most look to lawyers for the solution. However, they are out of reach for poor migrants. The problem requires an innovative approach. VIISTA represents a bold new solution.

2Tell us about a moment that inspired your project.

Every time I walk into an immigration court I feel angry and ashamed. Angry and ashamed that we have an immigration legal system designed for failure. A system that is not primarily designed to focus on truth or justice. But that is primarily designed—like a shoddy assembly line —to push the product through. In this case the product is immigration cases—just get them out the door; send them back home. I believe that immigrants confronting the immigration system deserve justice. That belief drives me every day as I work to establish the first university-based, comprehensive, online, scalable, and affordable immigration-focused education. VIISTA will create a nationwide pipeline of advocate champions committed to securing justice for immigrants.

3What is the biggest challenge you face?

I have three broad challenges: First, how to build a vibrant, cohesive, online community? Prospective and pilot students want to study in community, share resources, post questions to mentors, and form study groups, and to feel part of a community of like-minded advocates for immigrant justice. Second, how to scale the educational program without losing its teaching effectiveness? The need for advocates is huge, but immigrant allies need education so they can meaningfully help. At scale, VIISTA is a bridge that links two growing needs. And third, how best to evaluate the impact of the program, set goals, develop benchmarks, and collect data?

4What other leaders have informed your work?

I am blessed to have been and continue to be informed by many leaders in the immigration field. Many of the largest national organizations working with immigrants are helping me to build the curriculum, including Catholic Relief Services, Immigrant Justice Corps, and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).

5What is the exponential impact you think the Prize can have for your idea?

The Prize will help me to scale VIISTA. My goal is to graduate 10,000 immigrant advocates over the next ten years. And, it is realistic. Then, if every one of those new immigrant advocates helped just one immigrant family each month, they would help 660,000 immigrant families over ten years. And, the impact could be even greater than that because this program could be a model for using non-lawyers to provide legal services in other areas of law as well, like housing, evictions, simple divorces, and veteran’s affairs. Just like the medical field provided space for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Learn more about VIISTA:

https://www1.villanova.edu/university/professional-studies/academics/professional-education/viista.html

***********************************************

I was privileged to have assisted in some small ways my good friend Michele with some of the early planning and development of this amazing program, including early “brainstorming sessions” and a video appearance before one of her first classes.

Suppose our Government “immigration bureaucracy” were led by brilliant, humane, yet practical individuals like Michele instead of the White Nationalist kakistocracy now in charge! Even the current, concededly broken, system could be made fairer, more efficient, and more functional with real leaders, out to solve pressing problems rather than intentionally aggravate them, instead of the “malicious incompetents” foisted on us by the Trump Administration.

Representation is perhaps the biggest single positive factor in immigration proceedings. Represented individuals understand the system, appear for nearly 100% of hearings, are released from detention more often, and succeed in their claims at multiples of those who are unrepresented. Those who truly have no defense are much more likely to accept results when competently represented by those who can realistically advise them as to their chances of success and their realistic alternatives in language they can understand. Courts at all levels are aided when competent representatives sharpen and present the legal issues for adjudication. (Although non-attorney representatives can’t appear in Article III Courts, they can certainly work with pro bono attorneys in a “paralegal capacity” to assist and facilitate such representation when necessary.)

In an Administration that trusted and honored its prosecutors’ judgement and expertise, representatives could work with Assistant Chief Counsel and the Immigration Courts to reduce the number of unnecessarily backlogged cases on the dockets.

A smart, humane Administration would “can” all of the expensive, inhumane, time wasting, and often illegal “gonzo enforcement” gimmicks and instead put the time and money toward working with states, localities, NGOs, and other private entities to achieve at least something approaching universal representation. Without minimizing the need for Article I Immigration Courts and other legislative reforms, an enlightened Administration, committed to due process and responsible enforcement, could drastically reduce Immigration Court backlogs, advance the delivery of justice, and improve conditions for everyone involved, including the Assistant Chief Counsel and the Immigration Judges who suffer many of the effects of this Administration’s “malicious incompetence” along with migrants, their families, and their representatives.

Congrats again, Michele! You’re amazing, and a spectacular role model for what America could and should be in a better future under wiser, honest leaders committed to our Constitution and human values!

DUE PROCESS FOREVER!

PWS

11-15-19

🇺🇸⚖️🗽Due Process Forever!

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Many well-deserved congrats, Michele, my friend!

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