Taking on my first asylum case, and met with my client for the first time this morning. My take away: our system is not set up for success. First, they brought out the wrong client, and it took us a few minutes to figure that out. He was confused, we were confused.
Our client presented us with the asylum application he was given...which is only available in English. There are versions on google that have been translated by other organizations, but they're not official forms. Everything in his possession regarding his case was in English.
I get that government operates in English, but that just seems like a basic need that is not being met: presenting information in other languages. I mean, the IRS does a great job of making all kinds of information available in many different languages, so I know it can be done.
So I guess when we're trying to get immigrants to hand over their money to the government, we'll give them the information. But when they're trying to escape from violence and need to understand how to navigate that process...sorry, only English spoken here.
Another thing is communication. As in phone calls. The ICE detention facility in Elizabeth charges for phone calls...even local calls. Long distance calls are more expensive than local. Me, the other lawyer on the case, and our interpreter all have cell phones
So no local calling rates for our client. I am surprised that they charge at all for local calls, and am also surprised that calls to lawyers are somehow excepted from these charges. Anyway, we filled up our client's prepaid calling account, so he can call us now. Ridiculous.
It was also a weird experience to be without my phone, laptop (although I did later find out lawyers can bring laptops, or any sort of connection to the outside world. So many times in client meetings I look something up that they have a question about, or access a document.
I couldn't do that here. I also didn't want to take my client's papers from him, but had no way to copy them (couldn't take a pic with my phone), so I just wrote down the information for his hearing date, etc. It was weird to be so disconnected.
We are meeting with him again the day after Christmas, which makes me sad that he'll be there instead of with his family or friends.
typo above: calls to lawyers are *not* excepted from the charging system for phone calls.
Just in this one meeting, and also in hearing from the client about his prior interactions with our immigration system, it is pretty clear that we don't make this easy. And to compound the issue, it is not easy for them to get access to legal representation. What a mess.
