Today @TheProspect I wrote about immigration lawyers.

We know how viciously the Trump administration has attacked immigrants, esp. asylum seekers. But what hasn't been reported as much, is how these attacks directly undermine their lawyers. (thread) https://prospect.org/justice/loneliness-of-the-immigration-lawyer/

There's been a lot of discussion about the secondary trauma and PTSD of the immigration law profession--and that's a big part of the story here. But the story is also about every change that the administration has made and the *rate* at which those changes have been made.

As policy changes ping pong between federal courts, lawyers' advice to their clients is constantly in flux. Nearly every week, the admin drops a "Friday Surprise," policy or reg. Staying competent in the law might mean turning to Twitter/FB for the latest.

And, while much of this is not new, under Trump, every case takes longer. There are more frivolous "requests for evidence," there's the no-blanks rule for USCIS applications, and legal arguments used 5-10 years ago, appear not to work anymore.

And when every case takes longer, it's harder for attorneys to bring in the funds they need to pay staff. While many immigrants are represented by pro bono or nonprofit attorneys, ~half the immigration bar is private, and most of those are solo or small firms...

...which means their capacity is limited. It also means that if cases are taking double or triple the amount of time, they can't double or triple their fees bc their clients can't afford this. (Obligatory note here on notario fraud which is BAD.)

So that means that attorneys might just have to take fewer cases or cut down on certain types of cases, esp asylum and removal defense. In other words, there may be more people going to immigration court without a lawyer--which makes them A LOT more likely to lose their case.

Nearly all private immigration attorneys charge flat fees, not an hourly rate. Clients like this because it's straightforward, no surprises. Attorneys like not having to track their hours. But when cases take a lot more time, lawyers aren't getting paid for that time.

....Which also means they might need to start taking fewer cases, or take fewer of that type of cases. Again, this is most likely to be asylum and removal defense work.

All of these examples undermine access to counsel. Unlike in criminal court, immigrants have no constitutional right to a lawyer at govt expense. So many show up without representation. MPP/Remain in Mexico was another way to deny asylum seekers access to counsel.

Now let's talk about the courts. Again unlike in criminal court, immigration courts are not independent. And, although not the first POTUS to do so, Trump had interfered more than any other president. Judges have quotas, deadlines, & have lost important docket management tools...

..Judges are also more often from ICE/prosecutorial backgrounds. The Board of Immigration Appeals is now stacked with people with asylum denial rates over 90%, making that legal recourse moot for many lawyers.

The result is that lawyers feel like they are in a system stacked against them. Despite being part of the system and working within it, many are feeling impotent and that their participation legitimates an unjust and inhumane system.

Unlike in other areas of the law, losing a case can mean that a client could be deported and killed. The stakes are high and the hours are really long. Lawyers don't like talking about this bc compared to their clients' suffering, their trauma is not so bad.

But all of this is causing immigration & esp asylum lawyers to reassess which cases they take--which cases they *can* take--and how *many* they can take, and in some instances, it has meant that lawyers are retiring early, switching specializations, or leaving the law altogether

As @ackocher said, “All of these changes that the administration is putting in are not just directly targeted at immigrants themselves. They’re quite targeted at destroying the immigration law profession.”