Lawyers difficult to obtain in immigration cases

"Do you have a lawyer?" the immigration judge asked during a recent hearing.

Pancho, a native of Equatorial Guinea whose student visa had expired, explained that the attorney to whom he had paid $5,000 didn't show up at the last hearing and he couldn't find another one.

"You told me if I didn't have a lawyer I'd have to represent myself," he said. "But I don't think I'm capable of doing that."

Immigration judges in Los Angeles heard 27,200 cases in the last fiscal year, and stepped-up enforcement is expected to result in more this year.

Some involve foreigners fighting for asylum; others involve people with possible criminal records who are trying to avoid deportation.

Unlike defendants in criminal courts, individuals in immigration court do not have the right to free representation. Though there are no local statistics on the number of people who appeared in immigration court without lawyers, 58% of respondents nationwide were unrepresented, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the courts.

"Immigration laws are extremely complex," said Immigration Judge Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges. "It's a tremendous aid to us when someone is competently represented."

But finding an inexpensive or free attorney can be extremely difficult, advocates and lawyers said. And the stakes are high: Foreigners can face deportation, family separation and even political persecution.

"Someone who is not an immigration attorney cannot possibly understand the complexities to do what they need to do to have a fighting chance," said Judy London, who directs the immigrant rights project of Public Counsel, a Los Angeles pro bono law firm.

The federal government, private firms and nonprofit organizations are launching new efforts to increase pro bono representation. But advocates said the only solution would be a public defender program.

"Nonprofits just don't have the resources to represent everybody," said Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The Executive Office of Immigration Review has expanded pro bono programs for unaccompanied children and legal orientation seminars for detained immigrants, and has increased the number of court-sponsored training programs for attorneys willing to take cases at no cost.