The decision to halt the program could prevent thousands of people detained in immigration detention centers from receiving legal advice.—
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The U.S. Department of Justice told immigration attorneys who aid detained immigrants through a federal program to stop providing legal services as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing changes to the immigration system, according to legal aid groups.
“To be told that we can’t go in and help people is devastating. More so to the people we’re trying to help who are being cut off from the outside world,” said Michael Luken, executive director for Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, the contractor that provides legal services. “We often hear people don’t know what’s happening or why they are detained: ‘What is going to happen next?’ And we were being stopped from reaching that basic level of orientation.”
