Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and Immigration Colleagues Face Rising Caseloads

On Monday, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid attorneys were featured in the Star Tribune to discuss the swell of immigration cases that they and local colleagues are facing in the provision of free legal services. Federal data shows more than 1,000 detentions in Minnesota through the end of July and deportations are happening much more rapidly since the beginning of the year. Many facing immigration-related legal proceedings do not have an attorney because public defenders are not provided for civil cases. For limited legal aid providers and their private practice counterparts, all of this has led to longer than normal wait times and ever-increasing caseloads. Fraud is growing, too, as well as fear of going back to court without a lawyer for those with pending cases.

Despite the commitment and care of Minnesota’s nonprofit attorneys, funding constraints are further limiting their ability to help a growing number of clients. “There are so many more people who need our help who never needed it before,” said Alison Griffith, supervising attorney for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. “So many people who weren’t a priority for removal are now facing a removal order.” Read more in “Up to our eyeballs’: Immigration lawyers struggle to keep up…”