PSJD Public Interest News Digest – June 28, 2019

June 28, 2019 at 2:18 pm · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hello there, interested public! Immigration issues dominated the news this week, with disturbing revelations from immigration attorneys about the conditions under which asylum seekers, including children, are being detained, an announcement from the administration about upcoming raids, and local government responses to that announcement. Ontario has a new Attorney General, and the Editorial Board of the Toronto Star wants him to revisit recent cuts to Legal Aid. More things happened too, with links below.

It’s a very busy summer, and I’ve been grateful this week for the assistance of Annie Dou and Quinn Casey, two of PSJD’s Summer Project Assistants. Annie and Quinn helped me winnow the many, many stories I collect each week to the most relevant ones; thanks!

See you around,

Sam

Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues

  • In Washington DC, “Congress sent President Trump a $4.6 billion humanitarian aid package on Thursday after Speaker Nancy Pelosi capitulated to Republicans and Democratic moderates and dropped her insistence on stronger protections for migrant children in overcrowded border shelters.”
  • In Washington DC, “ICE Acting Director Mark Morgan, who was chosen Tuesday to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection…said [the upcoming operation] will be focused on those who have had their due process, given an order a romal from a judge and notified by mail earlier this year.”
  • Meanwhile, CNN catalogued responses to the planned upcoming raids from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco.
  • In Arlington VA, “[t]wo Virginia organizations are looking to help as Arlington braces for immigration raids in the wake of President Trump’s deportation threats.”
  • In Chicago IL, “Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said she would take “concrete steps” to support immigrant communities after reports emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would begin raids this weekend to round up families who have received deportation orders.”
  • In Dallas TX, “[the] City Council has approved $100,000 in funds for the city’s Civil Legal Immigration Services initiative to distribute to non-profit organizations for legal services for undocumented residents facing immigration court proceedings.”
  • In New York, “Gov. Andrew Cuomo has joined with a growing number of elected officials across the country in opposing the Trump administration’s reported plan to begin ICE raids early Sunday targeting illegal alien families.”

    • Student Loans & Student Debt

  • Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than 150,000 former students of for-profit colleges filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education…claiming the agency is depriving them of the student debt relief to which they’re legally entitled.”
  • Also also in Washington DC, “Sens. Elizabeth Warren [] and Cory Booker [] sent letters to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission…requesting the agencies reconsider a 2018 decision to allow two of the biggest student loan servicers merge [sic].”
  • Financial Advisor reported that “Employer Student Loan Benefit Programs [are] a Growing Trend,” according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

    • Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

  • In New York NY, “Mayor Bill de Blasio[‘s announcement] earlier this month that public defenders will have their pay raised to match the salaries of attorneys on the city payroll within the next four years…brought ‘a feeling of relief’ [but] also has some concerned about the details.”

    • Legal Technology

  • In Washington DC, “legislation [was] floated by Senators Mark Warner and Josh Hawley [that] would require commercial services with more than 100 million active monthly users to disclose to their customers and financial regulators the types of data they collect. They would also have to provide their users with an assessment at frequent intervals of the data’s value to them.”
  • Inside Philanthropy discussed Consumer Reports’ new “Digital Lab, focusing on the data privacy and security issues that consumers face in today’s digital era.”

    • Access to Justice – Civil

  • Also in Washington DC, “U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris [] and Dan Sullivan [] introduced…legislation to ensure that all survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault have access to a lawyer if they need it.”
  • In New Mexico, the New Mexico Commission on Access to Justice “launched [a] ‘THIS ABOUT THIS’…campaign ask[ing] people to ‘think about’ the serious consequences of the lack of legal representation or resources.”
  • In Ontario, “[t]he Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic…has announced that it will be appealing a decision by Legal Aid Ontario to reduce its budget.”
  • Also in Ontario, The Toronto Star’s Editorial Board argued that “before he starts on any new projects, [attorney general] Downey should revisit a decision made in April by his predecessor, Caroline Mulroney, to slash the province’s legal aid budget by 30 per cent.”
  • In Alberta, the senior advisory counsel for adult criminal law at Legal Aid Alberta announced that his agency “is working on an overall Indigenous action plan…which is in its final draft stages.”
  • Legal Evolution’s editor argued that “I am [] hopeful about our ability to substantially solve access to justice. But it’s likely going to involve a massive redesign of how many types of disputes get resolved, including the possibility of lawyers and courtrooms being engineered out the process.” His comments came in response to “the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), Canada’s first online dispute resolution (ODR) system.

    • Access to Justice – Criminal

  • In Massachusetts, after “a Springfield judge ordered two defendants released from jail because they had not been provided a lawyer [and] also ordered the state’s public defender’s office to provide attorneys in court every day [] the Committee for Public Counsel Services[] is appealing the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, saying its attorneys are already overburdened.”

    • Criminal Justice Reform

  • In Philadelphia PA, The Phildelphia Inquirer reported that “statistics obtained from the DA’s Office show that in 2018, Krasner’s first year in office, 78 gun-possession cases were placed in the [Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition] program–compared with just 12 such diversions in gun-possession cases the previous year[.]”
  • Essence noted that “[a] record number of women of color have been elected to District Attorneys positions in the past four years,” and asked “do African-American female top prosecutors have th[e] same level of freedom [to exercise their discretion as their white male counterparts]?”
  • In Ventura County CA, “[b]ucking prior decisions across the state…[that] have found [Senate Bill 1421] requires the release of internal documents about police use of force, dishonesty, and sexual assault cases regardless of when the incidenct occurred”, “a Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled…that Senate Bill 1421 cannot be applied ‘retroactively.’”