Trump administration cuts legal aid to immigrants, escalating deportation push

Posters inside the court that provides immigration legal aid have been cancelled, instead encouraged them to “deception themselves”.

The children’s desk, which once stood in one of the many corridors of the West Los Angeles Immigration Court, no longer operates.

The waiting room is empty, and the families of children there (most people who don’t speak English or have never been to court) take basic courses on the legal system before their first appearance.

“Nowhere is helpful,” said Moises Morales, 28, a Salvador native.

The Trump administration ended a $28 million contract with nonprofits, providing a range of legal aid to thousands of immigrants in California and beyond, just as it injected $150 billion in immigration and border enforcement.

Attorneys who obtain basic legal information are disappearing from courts that have become new tools for government immigration repression. Immigrants fear that going to court will mean deportation.

In the past two months, once bipartisan-supported programs, such as immigration help desks or legal orientation programs for detainees, have been completely chopped or taken over by the government.

Morales, who is applying for asylum after fleeing violent gangs in El Salvador, said the court system could cause confusion, and professional lawyers have no cases. He said it has been difficult to find basic information.

“For me, the government kicked out legal service providers, who are providing basic information and support to people in court and then starting to arrest and deport people in court,” said Sara van Hofwegen, an attorney at the Acacia for Acacia for Acacia justice center, other non-professionals and legal professionals who provide services.

Groups that provide legal services to immigrants were hit again this month, when U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss in Washington state ruled that the Trump administration could stop contracting them and bringing the services inside. The decision is being appealed, but advocacy groups say decades of work are being demolished as the government tries to cut off more paths of legal immigration.

“This means people are received, detained and deported without any due process, or actually have any way to access basic legal information rights to help them understand their situation and help them advocate for themselves,” Van Hofwegen said.

The immigration review of the Justice Department and the Office of Administration rejected an interview, but Immigration Hawk said people facing deportation have the right to attorneys, but taxpayers don’t have to pay for it.

“U.S. taxpayers are already nervous under an unreasonable burden and should not expect to pay huge fees for legal aid programs, which has little effect other than unreasonable and unnecessary extension of the dismissal process.”

“When logging out these programs, Eoir has nothing else to do except eliminate spending that is first and foremost highly suspicious legitimacy.

What the government no longer provides is a court help desk, some child representatives and children’s families in deportation procedures.

The government said it will take over the detainee’s welcome plan and provide a plan for the guardians of minors. Immigration advocates say the proposed plans have been so downplayed that they have been “functionally terminated.”

Van Hofwegen said she saw no signs of a promised new government plan, but detention facilities (in remote areas of the state, few immigration lawyers) are joining and conditions are deteriorating.

She noted that even if the positioning program of people who care for immigrant children is active, people are increasingly afraid to go to immigration courts or talk to immigration officials, just as new services may need.

These plans provide a small probation in a complex legal system that benefits those who hire lawyers. Low-income immigrants usually cannot afford lawyers, and often don’t know if they have strong legal cases or it’s better to give up.

Immigration without attorneys with no attorneys has the upper hand in 19% of cases, while immigrants with attorneys attorneys have the upper hand in 60% of cases, according to a 2024 congressional report.

Evelyn Cedeño-Naik, an attorney for the Esperanza Immigration Rights Project, operated a legal desk in Los Angeles and Orange County Immigration Courts, and the phone calls he said have been pouring into the office.

“The contract has been terminated, but the demand remains,” she said. “People are very, very scared. We’re seeing it every day.”

One of her clients, a 4-year-old mom, was in the middle of her asylum application when she was suddenly arrested and separated from her child.

“Luckily, there is at least another person who can take care of her children,” Cedeño-Naik said. “But they are separated.”

This woman now has a lawyer.

The rules of the immigration court are changing every day. The government has cut off the legal pathways for thousands of immigrants to stay in the United States, ending temporary protection status for some immigrants from Afghanistan and Cameroon, while pushing to end it for other countries such as Haiti. Government lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the case of rapid deportation. The asylum case that was once heard was thrown away without a hearing. Families with active cases and regular inspections with U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement officials are being arrested.

Cedeño-naik said everyone, including attorneys, was worried about why the legal system was “used in this way.” And now, basic legal services are designed to help people’s most stressful and stressful moments in their lives, their lives are gone.

The group continues to provide legal aid online, hoping to attract as many people as possible and provide some walk-in services. She said it is practical that people are often arrested in court now.

“We try to provide these options for individuals,” she said. “We know that access to information is so important.”