US: Deportation system called 'severely flawed'

The number of people deported from the U.S. annually has grown from just over 69,000 to over 356,000 in the past eight years, while resource-starved immigration judges issue decisions without sufficient time to conduct legal research and analyze the complex cases they are asked to decide. This is among the key findings of a new comprehensive review of the current deportation process by the American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration and one of the United States' leading law firms. The study concludes that the system "is severely flawed and fails to afford fair process to all non-citizens facing deportation from the United States." "There is strong evidence that (legal) representation affects the outcome of immigration proceedings," it says. But in 2008, it continues, 57 percent of people in removal proceedings were not represented. Of those in detention, 84 percent were forced to proceed without lawyers. "Not only are many people unable to afford counsel, but remote detention facilities, short visiting hours, restrictive phone access, and transfers all have a devastating effect on a non-citizen's ability to retain counsel and maintain an attorney-client relationship," it notes.