New report shows hiring a lawyer is a key safeguard against deportation
WASHINGTON, DC, November 20 — As the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation and detention campaign, a new report from the American Immigration Council shows that legal representation is one of the most powerful tools to improve the fairness of immigration courts.
Read the report here.
An analysis of more than 2.28 million immigration court cases from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2024 found that hiring a lawyer significantly reduces the chance of being ordered deported. The data also reveals that case outcomes vary widely depending on whether someone is in custody and where their case is heard, factors that make the immigration court system increasingly less fair.
The report, “Where Can You Win in Immigration Court?” Lawyers, Detention, Geography, and Policy Impact comes at the exact moment the Trump administration is dramatically increasing the number of people eligible for deportation and narrowing access to due process.
“The Trump administration’s increased enforcement reveals how vulnerable people are when they go to immigration court without a lawyer,” said report author Adriel Orozco, senior policy advisor at the American Immigration Council. “Americans expect that all people should receive a fair hearing before a judge. This has become increasingly difficult in a time of mass arrests and rapid releases, but the presence of an attorney is often critical to protecting an individual’s right to plead their case.”
The report’s findings include:
Access to legal representation can be a life-changing protection in immigration court. Among immigration court cases decided between 2019 and 2024, 62% of immigrants without a lawyer were ordered deported, compared to 27% of immigrants who received legal aid. Without a lawyer, the advantageous situation collapses, especially for those in custody. In courts with the highest deportation rates, more than 90% of cases involving people in custody ended in deportation orders. Access to legal representation varies widely by region. In Honolulu, 70 percent of undetained immigrants had legal representation, but in Harlingen, Texas, it was just 25 percent. The outcome of the case has changed significantly between the Trump and Biden administrations. Under the Trump administration (fiscal year 2019), nearly 80% of cases ended in removal orders. Under the Biden administration (FY2024), that number was only 40%.
Explore the data here.
The disparities highlighted in this report are likely to widen further due to current Trump administration policies. Immigration courts are already strained by an unprecedented backlog. President Trump’s mass deportation and detention campaign has caused even more chaos, with the reassignment and firing of immigration judges, the expansion of “expedited” deportations, and other policies that limit people’s opportunities to submit evidence and obtain legal counsel. All of this raises fundamental questions about the guarantees of access to justice for people in immigration courts and the integrity of the courts themselves.
“This report makes one thing clear: Ensuring access to qualified legal counsel is a powerful way to protect someone from unfair or mistaken deportation,” Orozco said. “But whether someone can afford a lawyer depends too much on where they are, whether they are in custody, and the policies that happen to be in place. Lawyers are critical in a system that this administration is deliberately trying to undermine, as detention numbers are expected to skyrocket thanks to record funding approved by Congress.”
The full report and interactive data, including a breakdown by court, is available here. The tool allows users to explore results by location, detention status, and representation, providing the most detailed look at immigration court trends to date.
