Equal Justice Magazine-Vulnerable Immigrants Look to Legal Services

Pil Y., a Korean-American senior citizen, had housing worries on her mind when she took her seat among sixty others at a Saturday seminar sponsored by the Asian Americans for Equality, Inc. in Queens, New York. Here, in a patch of the map that is considered the most ethnically diverse in the nation, Carl Callender held up a piece of paper. It was a legal document. Pil Y. recognized it.

"What do you do when you get something that looks like this and you don't know what it means?" asks Callender, Executive Director of LSC-funded Queens Legal Services Corporation. His words are translated for those with less English proficiency. He continues: "Don't ignore it, don't throw it away. Go to somebody, get someone who can read it." Emboldened, Pil Y. seeks out Callender immediately about her landlord's threats and refusal to issue a new lease.

"It's good for people to hear not to be afraid, even if they don't speak the language," said Margaret Chin, Deputy Executive Director of the Asian Americans for Equality, Inc. "If people don't know their rights, they can get pushed around."

No matter their country of origin, immigrants to the U.S. have the same nervous encounters with the legal system. In Pil Y.'s case, Callender soon found himself at the housing court in Jamaica, Queens. The landlord, it seemed, had failed to acknowledge the applicability of a senior citizen exemption under state law. To Pil Y. and other immigrant clients, the courts can be doubly alien, but attorney Callender is fluent in the spoken language: legalese.

Across the country, legal services are responding to the new faces of low-income clients and bridging a gap, sometimes a vast gulf, between populations newer to the U.S., and the justice system that is meant to help one and all. "It is a vulnerable population in terms of abuse of legal rights," said Cynthia G. Schneider, Deputy Director of the Office of Program Performance at the Legal Services Corporation.

Carl O. Callender (standing right), Executive Director of Queens Legal Services Corp., speaks at a Chinese community forum.

Others see a stark crisis. For immigrants, the legal system is "overwhelming, incomprehensible and inaccessible due to cultural and language barriers," says "Equal Justice, Unequal Access: Immigrants & America's Legal System," a report released earlier this year by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. While immigrants' legal needs are high, trust is low, "rooted in their experiences in their countries of origin, where legal systems may have been dysfunctional or non-existent," the report states. This, combined with poverty, limited English ability, and a lack of legal knowledge, creates "not merely a gap, but a wall."

LSC-funded legal services programs, while working within the Congressional restrictions and LSC guidelines, are reaching out in increasing numbers to immigrant communities from every continent and circumstance. In accordance with LSC regulations (45 CFR 1626) and applicable laws, LSC grantees may not assist illegal aliens, according to Mattie C. Condray, Senior Assistant General Counsel at the Legal Services Corporation. But program offices may represent some income-qualified aliens, such as lawful permanent residents ("green card" holders), specified refugees and asylum seekers, certain immigrants who, as spouses, children, or parents, are related to U.S. citizens, and other specifically designated groups.

Some immigrants may qualify for a more limited form of legal representation. Migrant farmworkers with guest visas, for example, may be represented on problems related to their work contract. Victims of human trafficking (see sidebar) may be provided legal assistance if they are helping to prosecute the traffickers, and parents of children abducted to another country may also obtain legal help.

Many of these regulations are complex, note the authors of "Representing Immigrants: What do LSC Regulations Allow?" (Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, Sept-Oct 2004). In it, three specialists-National Immigration Law Center (NILC) attorney Sara Campos in Oakland, NILC Executive Director Linton Joaquin in Los Angeles, and Sheila Neville, staff attorney at the LSC-funded Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles-provide the most comprehensive analysis of allowable LSC representation. Many LSC-funded programs sometimes "unwittingly" turn away eligible clients, they say. In addition, they point out, in non-case-related matters of education, information and referrals, LSC-funded programs are permitted to provide important services to communities with immigrant populations.

Reflecting a large wave of immigration since 1990, legal services programs encounter wide swaths of client populations with different languages and cultures who are eligible for, and desperately need, aid of all types. Legal services offices are discovering innovative ways to serve this new clientele in both day-to-day issues, such as housing, benefits, consumer and family law, but also in unique issues, such as the reunification of families across borders.
According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, the immigrant population increased by 57 percent between 1990 and 2000. Immigrants accounted for 11 percent of the U.S. population in 2000. The vast majority, 85 percent, live in a household with at least one citizen. In total, immigrants and first-generation citizens account for 56 million people nationwide.

"Among the many vast changes that affect how and what services LSC programs provide to clients, none is more significant than the high number of immigrants that have come to the United States over the past few decades," began a December 6, 2004, LSC program letter on evaluating services to people with limited English proficiency.

The legal services population is especially affected by the growth in immigration because of high poverty rates. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 17 percent of the immigrant population is poor, while only 11.2 percent of the non-immigrant population lives in poverty. For new immigrants, those figures rise even higher to a 23.5 percent rate.

A recent change in the geographic dispersion of immigrants also affects legal services delivery. According to research by the Urban Institute, the foreign-born population skyrocketed by 95 percent in the 1990s in nineteen states not traditionally destinations for immigrants, including far-flung locations such as North Carolina, Oregon, Mississippi and Arizona. At the same time, the immigrant population stabilized in the states to which prior immigrants tended to migrate most often-California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

Callender hears concerns from members of the Chinese community.

"Programs that never had an immigrant population have to face how to serve this group," said LSC's Schneider. "This is a group of low income people who have special needs-they typically don't speak English; they are new to the United States," said Schneider. Almost 47 million people in the country speak a language other than English at home. The 2000 Census found that 11 million people do not speak English at all or poorly, a number that can multiply when the taking into account the technical language of law or medicine.

In a December 2004 memorandum, LSC President Helaine M. Barnett introduced LSC guidelines on serving eligible clients with limited English proficiency, similar to guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. "The decision whether or not to help someone should not be made on the basis of his or her language abilities," wrote Barnett. LSC urged its programs to undertake an assessment of the language needs and resources among their client population.

Back in Queens, more than one-third of the 3,491 clients who had cases in 2004 had limited English proficiency. Of those using other languages, two-thirds spoke Spanish. But the next largest group spoke languages from Southeast Asian countries, followed by speakers of Russian, Creole, French, Korean, Polish, Mandarin, Japanese, and a half-dozen other languages.

To represent this incredibly diverse group of people, the program employs many bilingual speakers among its 48 staff members, but outside translators are also necessary. The Queens office, like many others, turns to Language Line, a national telephone service of interpreters. "More and more, we have to put funds in the budget in the area of translation," said Callender. The program spends 8 percent of its $4 million annual budget on interpreters.

While Queens helps immigrants solve problems on housing and other daily needs, Klodiana Pasha, who is originally from Albania, turned to an LSC program in Chicago for highly specialized assistance. Pasha had an immigration problem with potentially devastating consequences-deportation-and needed a lawyer who knew the way around federal appellate court. The Legal Services Center for Immigrants, a project of LSC grantee Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, offers direct representation on difficult immigration matters. "Immigration law is a rapidly changing area-it's changed three to four times in the past four to five years," said Lisa Palumbo, supervising attorney. "We've gained a staff with expertise on the topic."

The program helps lawful permanent residents avoid wrongful deportation, enables U.S. citizens to unite or stay with family members, advises immigrants with disabilities who wish to naturalize, and, with non-LSC funds, helps battered spouses. The staff of five, including three attorneys, each handle caseloads of 30-50, noted Palumbo.

Pasha's case arose after she fled Albania in 2001 and applied for asylum in the U.S. An observer of the 2000 elections in her home country, Pasha reported election fraud. Immediately upon reporting, she was beaten at the election center by a group of thugs in black masks, who stole the ballot box. Later, she was repeatedly summoned to the prosecutor's office and advised to testify in a certain way or suffer consequences. When she refused, she found herself arrested by secret police. Upon release, she escaped the country, fearing for her safety. But her U.S. application for asylum was denied, largely because of damaging speculation by a document examiner who had no knowledge of the Albanian language or system. The Chicago program agreed to handle an appeal. The case is especially heart-wrenching, said Palumbo, because Pasha, now married to a U.S. citizen, has a two-year old daughter (also a citizen) who is being treated for a rare form of cancer in a Chicago hospital. The treatment would not be available in Albania, said Palumbo.

Legal aid programs in small towns and mid-size cities across the country are also discovering new immigrants in their service areas. This is especially true when a community becomes a refugee resettlement center. Whole new populations of refugees, fully eligible for legal services, often pop up in seemingly unlikely locations.

According to the Office of Refugee Resettlement of U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services, since 1975 the U.S. has resettled 2.4 million refugees. Defined as individuals fleeing persecution in their homelands, refugees are screened outside of the U.S. and, if admitted, are provided with special services in order to build a new life, including placement in resettlement communities. Approximately 100,000 refugees are admitted annually; the State Department spent $781 million for refugee and migration assistance in 2004.

Lowell, Massachusetts became the home to Cambodians admitted for humanitarian reasons. In response, LSC's Merrimack Valley Legal Services Program founded the Cambodian Outreach Project (see sidebar).

The northernmost reaches of Minnesota and North Dakota-where minority populations are traditionally a blip on the census reports-have now become the new homes to a wide variety of international refugees. Lutheran Social Services has sponsored thousands of refugees in Fargo-Moorhead, population 130,000. Over the past ten years, 5,000 families from war-torn and devastated countries have joined the community. A prominent Somali population has emerged. Other refugees are from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kurdish lands, Rwanda, Columbia, Liberia, Sudan and Bosnia. In a phenomenon known as "secondary migration," refugees often move within the U.S. to join relatives or friends, also contributing to the immigrant population in a single location.

"This was a 98 percent white-Anglo-Saxon community. It's been an interesting process," said Doug Johnson, acting executive director of LSC-funded Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota in Moorhead. "There are no lawyers who take immigration cases, no community resources. The nearest immigration lawyer is hundreds of miles away," said Johnson.

After nearly three years of planning, the Northwest Minnesota program is teaming up with LSC-funded Legal Services of North Dakota for a shared lawyer who can focus on the immigration needs of refugees and do outreach to immigrant clients.

For nearly twenty years, another part of Minnesota has been a nexus for the migration of a distinct refugee population, the Hmong. The Hmong, from countries in Southeast Asia, worked with the CIA during the Vietnam War and after the war ended many Hmong were settled in the U.S. Beginning in 1976, modest numbers were assigned to St. Paul, but a huge secondary migration occurred. By 2000, the Twin Cities had 41,000 Hmong. With the closing of a major Thai refugee camp, the U.S. government made a decision to resettle in Minnesota those with relatives in Minnesota already. Now, a wave is entering again. Another 5,000 to 15,000 Hmong are expected, said Jessie Nicholson, Senior Leadership Attorney for the Refugee, Immigration and Migrant Legal Services Program of the LSC-funded Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS).

Susana Martinez, LAFLA; Imelda Buncab, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking; Ambassador John R. Miller, Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State; Sheila Neville, LAFLA.

Even with the significant community resources that have developed in St. Paul, resettlement requires many adjustments, said Nicholson. For example, the Hmong youth have had no exposure to education. "The school system reported that it had 600 to 800 students who had never been in a school room before. They are just teaching about what it means to be a student. These are unique issues," she said. The program represents Hmong clients on issues ranging from housing to domestic violence, with a special emphasis on family reunification, a SMRLS priority.

The stress and strain that can accompany resettlement may touch down in a legal issue. In Seattle, the Namo family, originally from Ethiopia, encountered problems with benefits that many native born also face. But their unfamiliarity with the language and system causes additional turmoil. After living in a refugee camp in Kenya, the family of 11 moved to Washington, where the father's adult daughter, Rahima Robele lived. "It is very different for them," explained Rahima Robele. "They are so new."

The problem arose when the Namo family went to collect their monthly benefits, which are distributed electronically, and the account was wiped clean. The funds, essential to the Namo family, are withdrawn by a debit card from an ATM. They depended on the monies for food, rent, utilities, clothes and other necessities. But, the state refused to reissue the funds.

"My father was very upset," said Robele. Her father speaks no English. "He said, Who stole our money?' He went to the police and they didn't follow up. He was very upset about that. He said, What kind of country is that? What do they treat us like this?'"

Through a social worker's referral, they found the Northwest Justice Project, an LSC grantee, where law students from the University of Washington help immigrants as part of the Refugee and Immigrant Advocacy Project, a clinical program. Under the guidance of Gillian Dutton, six law students each year represent clients and undertake research projects, such as writing a booklet to help community workers understand how disabled or elderly immigrants can apply for citizenship, even if post-traumatic stress, Alzheimer's or other medical conditions prevent them from learning English.

Law student Bobbie Edmiston was assigned the Namo case. "The family had never used a credit card or a computer or an ATM or had a piece of plastic as currency. Their daughter always went with them. In this case, a card was issued by the department one day, and the funds were withdrawn immediately from a half-dozen ATMs. A detective said the pattern was consistent with fraud," said Edmiston, who worked with an interpreter and conducted an administrative hearing for the clients. A judge ruled that the social services department incorrectly issued an electronic benefits card to an unknown thief, and ordered the funds reinstated. "People are so affected on a survival basis, and face so many obstacles and cultural barriers," said Edmiston.

Recovering money promised but not paid is a central part of the work of migrant farmworker programs as well. "The most common complaint is that they weren't paid properly, aren't getting benefits, were injured or are retaliated against for asserting their rights," explained Mary Lee Hall, managing attorney of the Farmworker Unit of Legal Aid of North Carolina, an LSC-funded program.

Even here, the face of migrant workers has changed. Traditionally, the 50,000 to 100,000 farmworkers who come to North Carolina each year were from Mexico, Central America and Puerto Rico; others were African American. But, increasingly, growers are turning to Asia, and importing workers from Laos. "We're accustomed to working with people who don't speak English and have a different culture. All of our staff is bilingual in Spanish and English, but that doesn't do much good with the Laotian workers," said Hall. Thanks to the proximity of the Research Triangle in North Carolina, the farmworker program has succeeded in recruiting competent volunteer translators.

Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, agricultural employers are able to obtain "H2-A visas" for foreign workers with whom they contract on a seasonal basis. LSC-funded programs may represent these guest workers on employment-related matters.

Seven staff members, including three lawyers, criss-cross the state, meeting farmworkers at labor camps and ushering them to a private space-sometimes a car-for consultations. Teams are onsite four nights a week at the peak of the season, said Hall. As Carolina agricultural workers harvest many crops-blueberries, tobacco, sweet potatoes, Christmas trees-migrant workers are in the fields from April until December.

In 2004, the program reached 15,000 migrant workers, met with 2,200 workers, and handled 125 cases. Educational leaflets provide information about common problems: worker's compensation, food stamps, on-the-job injuries, and health concerns such as pesticides, heat stress, "green tobacco" sickness.

Farmworkers approached the migrant program in 2004 because they were blacklisted by an association of 1,000 growers if they made a single complaint. One worker complained about a lack of water in the field. Others said they were required to ride on a grower's bus and pay a fee, and were blacklisted if they did not. "They would then be foreclosed from any employment with any grower. It was actually in violation of their contract," said Hall. The program sued on behalf of nine clients, asserting that the blacklisting violated state and federal laws. The case was settled when the growers agreed with a farm labor union to eliminate the blacklist.

In California, nearly a half-million farmworkers and dependents are in the potential client pool, Executive Director Jose R. Padilla of the LSC-funded California Rural Legal Assistance told a Congressional subcommittee in 2004. Many face "egregious and shocking situations," he said, describing the situation of 400 asparagus pickers at a farm labor camp. They had, said Padilla, no functioning toilets or showers, unsecured doorways, a filthy kitchen, and were owed months of back wages. The legal services program secured improvement in housing and recovered unpaid wages.

Recovering children who are whisked away is a much harder task, especially if they are moved across borders. The Hague Convention, created in 1980, ratified by the U.S. and supported by groups such as the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children, is supposed to help, but "people don't know about this remedy," said Pamela Brown, an attorney with LSC-funded Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Weslaco, Texas.

Brown now directs the Bi-National Project on Family Violence, which began in 2002 and has developed unique measures to assist battered spouses (or other parents in violent situations) whose children have been taken across the border by the abusive parent using the Hague protocol. "We're located on the border with Mexico and started seeing cases of abduction. No one knew how to handle them," said Brown. "The cases involve victims of violence where the father or opponent has taken the children to Mexico and the left behind' parent is trying to get their children returned. Abusers use the border as another way to exercise power over vulnerable women."

One of the program's clients, Maria (not her real name), had escaped her husband's violence by fleeing to a shelter for battered women with her two children. After two months, she moved to a new residence, but the husband learned its location. While Maria was at work as a stock clerk in a 99-cents store, the spouse went to her house, cut the phone lines, and told the babysitter he was there to take the children to the doctor. He stole Maria's car and drove to Mexico. Under pressure, the husband returned one child, but refused to release the other. The mother is even unsure where the child is in Mexico. "It's so awful," said Brown.

Worldwide, the largest number of international child abductions occur across the U.S-Mexican border. But few lawyers, especially for women in need, know how to navigate the Hague Protocol. LSC regulations permit programs to represent eligible clients in Hague Convention proceedings. In Maria's case, Brown filed a petition and documents in English and Spanish with the U.S. State Department in Washington. After a review, the State Department delivered the documents to a counterpart in Mexico, where the case was assigned to a local judicial investigator. The Mexican authorities, through their own proceedings, can opt to hold a hearing, and order the child returned, a sometimes prolonged process.

According to the National Asian Pacific Legal Consortium, more must be done to enable the justice system to meet the vast needs of the immigrant community. The community "faces devastating consequences by inadvertently becoming more vulnerable and more disenfranchised than ever before," it says.

The consortium makes specific recommendations, including a much enhanced system of trained interpreters throughout the legal system and enhanced funding for legal services programs to build a comprehensive language access program.

The consortium also calls for big-picture changes. "Congress should lift restrictions preventing LSC recipients from addressing the legal needs of individuals with certain types of immigration status," it states. Limitations on the use of private funds, it says, are especially burdensome and have a "devastating" impact on immigrant communities. "The time has come to fulfill the legal system's promise of equal access for all," it concludes.

Rahima Robele, whose newly-arrived refugee father found the justice he hoped for through legal assistance in Seattle, also had a message. "They do a very good job," she said. "My father really appreciates that. He said, I'm going to say thank you to them one day if I speak English.' They helped us a lot," said Robele.

Cynthia L. Cooper is a journalist in New York, who specializes in topics of human rights and justice. With a background as a lawyer, she worked for legal services for two and a half years.

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