Despite her young age, Viviana Pineda he has a hard time sharing his story. It says that it is complicated, long and sad in the middle of a deportation process.
“My dad died when I was two years old. My sister and I came to the United States in 2014 with my mom. I was 11 years old, ”recalls Pineda, who is now 18 years.
“We lived with my grandmother and we emancipated ourselves from my mother because she didn’t take care of us. Now the only person I have is my older sister because my grandmother had to return to Honduras, ”he mentions.
Says his sister Yazmin, 22 years old, worked hard for her to focus on finishing school. Last year, Viviana graduated from Harding University High School in Charlotte.
In the midst of this difficult situation, Pineda received a deportation order. Since then, he has been a client of the Charlotte Legal Defense Center. Now a new chapter begins.
A light of hope
After several years, Pineda obtained his legal residence American in January, with the help of his attorney at the Center. The young woman saved thousands of dollars in legal expenses thanks to a new free immigration attorney program for undocumented immigrants facing warrants. deportation.
The program is the result of a partnership between several non-profit organizations such as the Hispanic Federation, the Foundation for the Carolinas, the Charlott Legal Defense Centere, the Latin American Coalition of Charlotte and Action NC.
“This free program of immigration attorneys It will not only be very important to the families we serve, but also because it will help fill a huge gap that we are seeing in North Carolina when it comes to representation in immigration court, ”said Daniel Valdez, Director of the Hispanic Federation in North Carolina.
Immigrants without a lawyer struggle at a disadvantage
A recent report from the Vera Institute of Justice places North Carolina 47th out of 50 states for legal representation rates in the immigration courts.
The latest data collected by the organization Syracuse University TRAC show that in 2019, only 42% of immigration cases in Mecklenburg County had legal representation.
Unlike the state and federal courts, the lawyers probono, that is, they do not charge the client but are appointed by a court, they do not exist in immigration courts since they are actually administrative.
Administrative courts strictly judge cases between government agencies and private citizens. In immigration court, for example, they are between undocumented immigrants and the Executive Office of Department of Justice Immigration Review (EOIR).
For that reason, immigration judges in they are not actually state or federal judges as defined by the US constitution, are career lawyers appointed by the Attorney General and act as his delegates.
Sharon Dove, Director of the Immigrant Justice Program at the Charlotte Legal Defense Center, says legal representation plays an important role in outcomes in immigration court.
“People walk into immigration court without speaking the idiom in which the process is carried out, much less without any legal knowledge. They look like deer in the headlights of a car, ”said Dove.
Since 2001, more than 29,000 immigrants They have received deportation orders in Charlotte Immigration Court. A little over 23,000 (79 %) did not have legal representation and 6,020 (21 %), Yes.
Regarding asylum cases, this recourse was granted to 2,678 immigrants, only 177 of them were unrepresented legal. These numbers show the correlation between the results and the representation in court.
Free legal representation: a must
One factor to consider is that a private immigration attorney can cost between $ 100 and $ 300 an hour. Sharon Dove says these costs are often heavy for immigrant families who work part-time with low wages.
It is expected that funds for the program last approximately one year and are renewed in the 2022. This year alone, Dove expects the program to help at least 120 clients who need representation in immigration. Still, that doesn’t mean that everyone will test positive.
Given that the Charlotte Immigration Court One of the toughest in the country, this free immigration attorney program is not a definitive solution for all immigration cases as some can take decades to close. Still, program leaders seek to demonstrate the value that a universal representation program could have in North Carolina.
For Viviana Pineda, it is the possibility of her first full time job and get your driver’s license as a permanent legal resident. This way you can save money for college and one day become a small business owner and provide for your future family.
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