Due Process and Immigrant Detainee Prison Transfers: Moving LPRs to Isolated Prisons Violates Their Right to Counsel

Abstract

Although the overwhelming majority of individuals detained in immigration prisons are transferred from one prison to another, their relocation, this article suggests, frequently violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process right to counsel for lawful permanent residents (LPRs). Most LPR detainees spend their days awaiting a decision on their removability while confined in the nation’s largest detention centers, which are located in remote regions of Arizona, Georgia, and Texas. In these areas, there are very few attorneys willing to represent detained immigrants and detainees are isolated from social networks that could help them tap legal resources to put up a credible defense.

Keywords: crImmigration, Immigration, Detention, Prison, Lawful Permanent Resident, Right to Counsel, Due Process, Fifth Amendment, Transfer