Jaqueline Llanas of the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, or ProBAR, doesn't have a law degree, but she was still able to guide a young Honduran man through the asylum process and reunite him with his mother after more than a decade apart.

The mother had been forced to leave her seven-year-old son in 2007 to flee severe domestic abuse in Honduras and seek asylum in the U.S. Eight years later, when she was granted asylum in 2015, ProBAR started working to bring her now-teenage son, living with his aunt, to the U.S. as well.

But the process was slow-moving, and the teen, facing threats from gangs, decided to risk crossing the Rio Grande river in 2018 instead of continuing to wait. He ended up getting detained by U.S. immigration authorities and put into expedited removal proceedings.

"That was such a stressful time," Llanas said. "I had to intervene, like, ASAP."

Llanas, acting as the son's legal representative, halted his deportation, got him released from detention and helped him obtain asylum based on his mother's status.

Although she's not an attorney, Llanas could directly advocate for the son because of her status as an accredited representative — a nonlawyer specially trained and screened by the federal government to represent people in immigration courts and in proceedings involving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The accredited representative program has taken on increasing importance as record numbers of immigration cases continue to pile up. But the number of accredited representatives in comparison has remained at a steady level for the last five years, and the lack of investment in the program has added to critics' concerns that processing delays are hindering migrants' access to legal counsel.


"People aren't going to stop coming to seek relief," said Regina Ramirez, an accredited representative at the migrant advocacy group Al Otro Lado Inc. "With all the complexity of immigration, it's unjust and unreasonable to expect individuals to represent themselves competently."

The legal aid initiative, formally called the Recognition and Accreditation Program, started in 1958 to help ensure that those in immigration proceedings won't be disadvantaged by a lack of access to counsel. Research from immigration advocacy groups and legal scholars, including American Immigration Lawyers Association and the University of Pennsylvania, has shown that legal representation vastly increases noncitizens' chances of successfully obtaining immigration benefits.

The program currently counts on the participation of more than 750 recognized organizations that provide legal assistance to noncitizens who either can't find counsel or can't afford it.

Representatives can only obtain their accreditation through their affiliation with one of the recognized organizations, and they must submit letters of recommendation as well as proof of work experience and completion of certain training to be approved by the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Fully accredited representatives can act just like licensed attorneys in executive branch immigration proceedings. Partially accredited representatives can only represent clients in USCIS proceedings. Their work is typically overseen by licensed attorneys, but they largely work independently, accredited representatives told Law360.

As of March 7, the EOIR reported a total of 1,984 accredited representatives — a figure that has fluctuated only slightly from 1,800 on March 17, 2017.

A pair of policy changes in recent years contributed to ballooning backlogs and lengthening processing times for accredited representative applications, according to Karen Sullivan, an attorney at Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., or CLINIC, whose affiliates make up a large chunk of the program's recognized organizations.

A regulation finalized in late 2016 changed the rules regarding renewals of accredited representative status, increasing the number of filings the EOIR had to handle without a concomitant increase in resources dedicated to processing applications.

Then in 2019, the Trump administration moved EOIR's Office of Legal Access Programs, which oversees the accredited representatives program, under the direction of the newly created Office of Policy.

Those shakeups, compounded by a longstanding lack of resources and the start of the coronavirus pandemic, sent the average processing time for applications skyrocketing from an average of two to four months to an average of nine months to a year or more, Sullivan said.

"It's really not sustainable for the purpose of the program," she said.

Unlike federal criminal defendants, people in immigration proceedings don't have a right to a government-funded attorney, meaning they often rely on nonprofit legal aid organizations. But those organizations often work on tight budgets, or in far-flung areas with few practicing lawyers.

The accredited representative program not only helps legal aid groups supplement their limited roster of licensed attorneys, it also provides nonlawyers who work for them with an avenue for professional fulfillment.

Ramirez, of Al Otro Lado, is a fully licensed attorney in Mexico, but she said she doesn't plan to go to law school in the U.S. because of the high cost. Her work as a legal representative lets her continue to directly advocate for clients in the U.S., despite not being a fully credentialed lawyer.

"It addresses a major due process and access to justice issue," she said.

Llanas, a paralegal at ProBAR, said she considered applying to law schools, but the nearest one is several hours by car from her South Texas home, and enrolling would mean she would have to quit her job and move away from her family. The accredited representative program gives her the chance to provide legal services to her community without those trade-offs.

"I get to do a little bit more for the clients," she said. "I'm able to advocate for them in a deeper, stronger way than as a paralegal."

Because immigration proceedings can have very high stakes, giving migrants access to a dedicated legal representative can mean the difference between life and death, said Kimi Jackson, the director of ProBAR.

"I'm not saying that lightly," Jackson said. "There are people who — if they're not granted asylum and they're sent back to their home country — they will be killed."

An EOIR spokesperson told Law360 the agency "adjudicates each application in a timely manner consistent with regulations."

But migrant advocates say the Biden administration should do more to shore up the accredited representative program to ensure more people seeking protection in the U.S. get a fair shot. With ongoing humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere, the need for legal representation in immigration proceedings is expected to continue to grow.

"Considering the years of understaffing this program has had, what's been done so far — we really don't think it's enough to get this program back on track, especially in time for the challenges that are coming up now," Sullivan said.

--Editing by Emily Kokoll.

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