Economic crisis yields support for Legal Services funding -- but not for prisoners and undocumented immigrants

Legal Services Corporation Changes Introduced | OMB Watch

On March 26, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the Civil Access to Justice Act of 2009 (S. 718) that ends the LSC restrictions on the use of non-federal funds, except those related to abortion litigation. "Lifting these restrictions allows individual states, cities and donors the ability to determine themselves how best to spend non-federal funds to ensure access to the courts," said Harkin. The bill also seeks to increase the LSC budget from $390 million to $750 million.

According to a Harkin  press release, the Civil Access to Justice Act would remove "many of the restrictions currently placed on legal tools that LSC-funded attorneys can use to represent their clients. [. . .] In the spirit of compromise, the bill does maintain the prohibition on abortion related litigation as well as many of the limits on whom LSC-funded programs can represent, including undocumented immigrants (with limited exceptions such as victims of domestic violence), prisoners challenging prison conditions and people charged with illegal drug possession in public housing eviction proceedings." The measure would also create a program to expand law school clinics.

On April 7, the Brennan Center for Justice released a fact sheet that shows how the LSC restrictions harm foreclosure prevention efforts. Homeowners who are losing their homes to foreclosure are in need of legal help, yet the legal services available to them are limited and underfunded. The fact sheet details accounts of ordinary Americans and how the LSC restrictions have impacted homeowners in their struggle to keep their homes.

During this time of economic recession, there appears to be strong public support for legal services.  Reportedly, two-thirds of those polled on behalf of the American Bar Association said they favor federal funding for people who need legal assistance.

A Washington Post editorial on March 14 went even further. It asked lawmakers to "unshackle Legal Services from congressionally-imposed restrictions that have kept it from working more efficiently and broadly." For example, unlike most others who represent plaintiffs, Legal Services lawyers who prevail in a civil case are prohibited from seeking legal fees from an opponent. The editorial also called for support of the Harkin bill.

DVD review: "The Visitor" -- from outside to inside immigrant detention

Kirwan Institute Blog

Yusuf Sarfati, Graduate Research Associate at the Kirwan Institute

The debate on immigration, specifically on the conditions and the future of the undocumented immigrants, is a heated topic in the U.S. “The Visitor”, which I watched on DVD last week, focuses on different aspects of this debate. The movie mainly revolves around a friendship between Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian drummer, and Walter (Richard Jenkins), an economics professor, in New York City. Towards the end, the movie takes a dramatic turn, when Tarek was put in a detention center because of his lack of immigration documentation after he was held by cops over a trivial issue in a subway station.

From then on the movie explores the problems with the U.S. detention system, such as the isolated nature of the facility that transforms Tarek from a cheerful drummer to an anxious individual, the movement of the detainees from one center to the other without any information provided to the families or friends, the targeted criminalization of the immigrants (Tarek in the movie, like many others in the real world is locked up for an innocent incident in the subway), the lack of training of the officials in the centers to provide basic human needs for the detainees, and the difficulties of finding representation for the detainees in the centers. Tarek in the movie was “fortunate” that his new acquired friend Walter provided him an immigration lawyer.

In addition to the issue of detention, there was a larger discussion in the movie on the role of the immigrants in the formation and transformation of the U.S. national identity.

Prisoners' plight during hurricane Gustav: CR and INCITE action alerts

Forwarded message:


Hey folks - please make this call today in between your Labor Day Weekend activities. Also, INCITE! New Orleans tells us that women prisoners are being shipped to Angola State Prison, an infamous maximum security men's prison, rather than to the state women's facility. This happened last time, and resulted in terrible human rights abuses. We particularly need the "big" organizations among you to make this call - but everyone's voice is needed. MAKE SURE WHEN YOU CALL TO DEMAND TO KNOW WHY WOMEN PRISONERS ARE BEING SHIPPED TO A MEN'S FACILITY, AND THAT THEY BE MOVED TO A WOMEN'S FACILITY IMMEDIATELY.

Also, we are raising money to help get low income women of color, who, as we all know, were devastatingly impacted by Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, out of town safely and back to the City as soon as it is safe. You can donate at INCITE!'s website http://www.incite-national.org, put New Orleans in the "purpose" line of the Pay Pal form, and we will be transferring it directly to the INCITE! New Orleans bank account for distribution to the 500 + constituency and patients of the New Orleans Women's Clinic, created post Katrina by INCITE! New Orleans to meet the overwhelming need for health care for low income uninsured women of color in the wake of public hospital closings and ongoing environmental contamination...

...

What will happen to the prisoners of Orleans Parish Prison located in New Orleans this time?

Critical Resistance (CR) is demanding that the elected officials of New Orleans will not create the same devastating wrongs as they did to the prisoners of Orleans Parish Prison during hurricane Katrina.

1. we demand a full and safe evacuation of all prisoners
2. we demand to know what the evacuation plan for prisoners is
3. we demand to see a public document about that plan immediately
4. we demand information about how we can find people after an evacuation

We are urging every member, ally and comrade of New Orleans across the country, to make at least one call to:

• Sheriff Malrin Gusman: 504.827.8505
  (James Carter's secretary said "Orleans Parish Prison is Gusman's prison")
• James Carter: 504.658.1030
  (Criminal Justice Council Member who is able to put pressure on the sheriff even if they say they can't)
  You can also send an email: JCarter@cityofno.com
  please put in your email subject: How will you protect prisoners this time?

Please call as many times as you can to put pressure on them and let them know our demands and it is their job to be accountable to us!!!!!!!!

For further information from us please contact Critical Resistance New Orleans:
Mayaba: 917.385.5472 or mayaba@criticalresistance.org
Koolblack: 504.813.4714 or koolblack@criticalresistance.org

(If you can't get through due to evacuation please contact:
pilar@criticalresistance.org for further information)

In solidarity,
Critical Resistance