Abstract
In the medical profession, triage refers to sorting medical resources in emergency situations based on the greatest need for immediate attention. Similarly, legal service providers talk about “triaging” cases to prioritize individuals with the most serious problems. But in the immigration field, the concept of triage is turned on its head. Noncitizens with the riskiest cases—those facing deportation—have the least access to legal assistance, especially if they are detained.
Technology has the potential to help with triage but is not yet being used effectively to assist with deportation defense. This Article argues that utilizing technology to facilitate access to representation for detained noncitizens would help address that gap. It examines not only how legal service providers can use technology such as automated online assistance, mobile apps, and specialized websites that facilitate collaborative representation and complex legal analyses to triage immigration cases, but also how technology in detention centers and immigration courts can facilitate access to representation.
Simple things such as access to tablets and email for detained individuals to communicate with counsel; attorney access to laptops and cell phones in detention centers and courtrooms; a supplementary option of remote video visitation and appearances for representatives; and electronic access to immigration files (A-files) would all facilitate representation. Additionally, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which is the agency within the Department of Justice that includes the immigration courts, could create online platforms to implement a nationwide pro bono program and, more ambitiously, to establish a National Database of Detained Noncitizens that would help connect detained individuals with representatives.
This Article contends that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which prosecutes immigration cases, and EOIR have every incentive to adopt these technologies in detention centers and immigration courts because increased representation helps them triage their own enormous caseloads.
Recommended Citation
Fatma Marouf and Luz Herrera,
Technological Triage of Immigration Cases,
72 Fla. L. Rev.
515
(2020).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol72/iss3/2