Biden’s First Year On Immigration A Mixed Bag

IMMIGRATION

12 Immigration Detention and Enforcement Are a Mixed Bag in Biden’s First Year

BY REBEKAH WOLF

Immigration detention and enforcement in the United States under the first year of the Biden administration has been a mixture of improvements and setbacks. The Trump administration implemented nearly 400 changes to interior enforcement with the goal of subjecting all undocumented immigrants to enforcement actions, and President Biden assumed office having made significant commitments to limit enforcement activities in an effort to reduce the hardship experienced by many immigrants and their families. The President’s first year has brought a number of significant changes to immigration enforcement within the U.S., but with mixed results. Though 2021 saw steps away from some of the Trump administration’s most egregious policies, the implementation of the Biden administration’s new priorities has varied across the country. The number of people in immigration detention increased significantly and disturbing trends also continued in the use of private prisons for immigration detention. A Return to Enforcement Priorities On January 20, 2021, Acting DHS secretary David Pekoske issued an interim memorandum that provided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with a framework of priorities for enforcement. This outlined who DHS should—and should not—prioritize arresting, detaining, issuing notices to appear to, and deporting. This was followed up with a memo issued on February 18, 2021 that further carved out specifics for who was considered a priority for enforcement. The intention of these priorities is to focus enforcement efforts on a subset of individuals, presumably leaving others in relative safety from enforcement activity. These priorities included people who were considered national security threats, entered the country on or after November 1, 2020, or were convicted of aggravated felonies. The enforcement priorities were challenged in federal court by Texas and Missouri, who argued that the priorities unfairly restricted ICE’s ability to pursue enforcement against other groups of people. While a district court judge initially agreed with the states, that decision has been stayed by the 5th circuit while the case winds its way through the courts. On September 30, 2021 the administration issued another, more final, version of the enforcement priorities which was considered an improvement on the previous memo, though it notably no longer applied to release from detention. This memo moved away from the categorical approach of the previous memos and instead listed aggravating and mitigating factors in favor of or against enforcement. These memos stood in contrast to the Trump administration’s approach of arresting and detaining everyone ICE encountered. But while the return to a set of priorities was a welcome move by many, it did not go far enough for many advocates. Legal service providers and other advocates regularly noted that the memos still left discretion entirely in the hands of the field offices, and there were significant discrepancies between field offices in how they were applied. There was also no clear way to request review of a decision by the field office of a decision to designate someone as an enforcement priority. Finally, field offices rarely gave explanations for how they came to a continued on page 13

President Biden. Editorial credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com

Biden’s First Year/ continued from page 12 determination, leaving representatives in the dark as to how it was being applied.

An Increase in Detention Under the Trump administration, immigration detention reached an all-time high of over 50,000 people. The large reduction in detention numbers down to a historic low of under 15,000 people near the end of Trump’s term was due to changes at the border. The first major change was the implementation of MPP and then the use of Title 42 to drastically reduce numbers of individuals entering the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with those border restrictions still in place, immigration detention has continued to grow under the Biden administration, with overall detention numbers increasing by 50% since Biden took office. Immigration detention continues to be extremely dangerous both to those detained and the surrounding communities, as detention centers act as superspreader locations for COVID-19. Meanwhile, detention in rural locations, such as in Louisiana and New Mexico, continued and even expanded. Detaining individuals in these areas has been criticized for the increased potential for due process and human rights abuses. For example, advocates from New Mexico and nationally focused on the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, NM, where a group of Haitians were being detained with virtually no access to legal information, legal counsel, or even the ability to speak to officials in their native language. All of this at a detention facility that failed its inspection in July 2021 for, among other reasons, being dramatically understaffed. Other detention centers, such as the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, LA, were investigated for their extremely poor conditions. At Winn, with government oversight agencies went so far as to recommend that ICE discontinue detaining people there, yet the detention continues.

The Use of Private Prisons In the Biden administration’s first week in office, it banned the use of private prisons at the federal level. However, a loophole was left that private prison companies are increasingly taking advantage of: the ban didn’t apply to immigration detention centers. And ICE has openly admitted that it continues to search for additional facilities across the country to increase detention capacity. This was met with some resistance by members of Congress but was nevertheless left as policy. Across the country, as the federal government is terminating or not renewing contracts with private prison companies, those prisons are being re-opened under contracts with DHS to detain immigrants. Immigration detention capacity is expanding, even though President Biden promised at the beginning of his term to address mass incarceration. Advocates have been resisting the prison-to-detention-center trend, however, largely on the local level by asking state governments to ban the use of private prisons in their states. Results have been mixed, with a successful campaign most recently in Illinois. The Biden administration has clearly made attempts to improve the country’s immigration detention and enforcement policies after a dismal record by his predecessor. Much more is left to be done.l

Editorial credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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Goal for 2022: Become a Paralegal

BY THE CHAMBER COALITION

Acareer as a paralegal (also known as a legal assistant) can be a wonderfully fulfilling profession. Paralegals perform legal , regulatory , and business -related research for lawyers working at their organization. Most of the time, paralegals work for law offices, non-profits, corporations' legal departments, or courts. These professionals also provide legal support services to attorneys. They assist lawyers in filing motions, memoranda, pleadings, and briefs in various court systems and accompany lawyers to see clients and go to court. Here are five great things about being a paralegal:

1. Rise in Pay Paralegal compensation has risen steadily in the past decade. As paralegals perform a broader and more complex range of tasks (paralegals even represent clients in court in certain countries and administrative tribunals), their earnings continue to rise. The average paralegal salary hovers at around $50,000 per year, but paralegals often make more through bonuses. Overtime hours can also add significant cash to a paralegal's paycheck. 2. Explosive Employment Outlook The paralegal field is one of the fastestgrowing professions on the globe. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, predicts the employment of paralegals and legal assistants by over 25 percent, much faster than the average for all occupations. Among the factors driving this growth is client demand for cheaper, more efficient delivery of legal services. Since hourly rates charged by attorneys are typically double or triple the rates of paralegals for the same task, law firm economics mandates the increased use of paralegals to minimize costs. As a result, a paralegal career is one of the hottest non-lawyer jobs in the legal industry. 3. Easy Career Entry Unlike lawyers who must complete seven years of formal education and pass the bar exam to practice law, you can become a paralegal in as little as a few months of study.

4. Intellectual Challenge Paralegal work is intellectually challenging and involves a range of high-level skills. The most successful paralegals are problem-solvers and innovative thinkers. Paralegals must become subject matter experts in their specialty areas and master legal procedure, research, drafting, and other skills. They must stay on top of ever-changing laws and new legal trends and developments while interfacing with attorneys, opposing counsel, vendors, staff members, clients, and others. The work is varied, and each day brings new challenges.

5. Rising Prestige As paralegals perform more complex and challenging work, paralegal prestige is rising. Paralegals are no longer simply lawyer's assistants; they assume corporate management roles, leadership roles in law firms, and entrepreneurial roles in independent paralegal businesses. Over the years, paralegals have transcended the image of glorified legal secretaries to become respected legal team members.

Ready to Take the Leap? A career as a paralegal can be rewarding professionally and personally and offers a unique opportunity to help others; options vary, depending on the paralegal's practice area. Paralegals in the public interest sector help poor and disadvantaged segments of the population with legal issues ranging from protection from domestic abuse to assistance preparing wills. Ready to take the leap, the next step? Call us at 718-722-9217 or visit www.freeparalegal.org to complete your registration which includes payment.l

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