NY State Bar calls for right to counsel in immigration cases

06/17/2019, Bar Effort, Immigration

The New York State Bar has released a resolution and report calling for the state legislature to establish a right to counsel in immigration proceedings.  The report notes that "[T]he first round of assessment of the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), the pioneering public defender model for detained immigrants that started in New York City in 2013, shows that access to lawyers has resulted in a 48 percent success rate for detained New Yorkers, compared to just 4 percent pre-NYIFUP."