On Monday
this week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) announced a new nationwide policy
for unrepresented immigration detainees with serious mental disorders or
conditions that may make them mentally incompetent to represent themselves in
immigration proceedings.
The policy
was announced only a day before a federal judge in California
ordered courts in Arizona, California and Washington to provide
legal representation for immigrants with mental disabilities who are in
detention and facing deportation, if they cannot represent themselves. The decision is the first time a court has
required the government to provide legal assistance for any group of people in
immigration proceedings. The ruling was
handed down late Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit brought in 2010 by the American Civil Liberties Union, among others.
The new
policy would essentially expand the California ruling nationwide, making
government-paid legal representation available to people with mental
disabilities in immigration courts in every state. Under the new guidelines, immigration judges would
be able to order mental competency hearings for immigrants who may have serious
disorders, based on medical or other records.
