Attorneys Guide Immigrants In Crisis

Forty-five immigration attorneys gathered in Tijuana recently to host a two-day legal clinic for people hoping to legally migrate to the U.S. “At a minimum, in a democracy, you deserve to know what your rights are,” Nora Phillips, the Los Angeles attorney who organized the clinic, told the Los Angeles Times. “My job as an attorney is to take a case at face value and assess whether you qualify for anything under the law that currently exists.” Some advocates of stricter immigration laws have called efforts like the Tijuana clinic ploys to game the system. “The sheer volume of [asylum claims] is being used to tie up the courts, which works to the advantage of those trying to game the system,” said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. For those deemed good candidates, the attorneys helped secure pro bono representation, and prepared the individuals to give themselves up at the San Diego Port of Entry.