By Juan Mann
05/31/2004
Want to pretend you're an attorney without ever going to law school or taking the bar exam?
Want to practice law and represent clients before federal executive agencies without a state bar license — and not get thrown in jail?
Then immigration law is for you!
Yes, for everyone who wants to save tens of thousands of dollars in law school tuition and play "lawyer" anyhow — without even so much as a college degree — the Treason Lobby can help. You can be an "accredited representative" of a non-profit, religious, charitable or "social service" organization!
This bizarre career path is made possible by the Treason Lobby’s classic iron-triangle partnership with the federal immigration bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Department of Justice’s alien-friendly Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
Federal immigration regulations allow non-profit groups to hire employees to fill the function of lawyers and represent immigration clients before the EOIR and the DHS.
These non-attorneys from "recognized" groups can give legal advice to their "clients" and charge fees — just as if they were in a law firm.
It’s all right there in the Code of Federal Regulations. 8 C.F.R. sections 1292.1 and 1292.2.
A separate exception allows for any "reputable individual of good moral character" to represent aliens in Immigration Court too. But, to fit this exception, there must be a preexisting relationship between the parties. And no fees can be charged.
For the Treason Lobby’s special non-profit exception, however, the "recognized" groups can take alien clients right off the street … and right under the nose of their definitely for-profit allies in the immigration bar, who really are licensed attorneys.
The Treason Lobby’s flagship professional association for immigration attorneys — the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) — apparently doesn’t have much to say about non-attorneys muscling in on their turf. [VDARE.com note: Although it does have something to say about VDARE.com; its new "Restrictionist Watch" feature attacks Peter Brimelow here and Juan Mann here — pdf file, page 11.]
This silence may well be explained by the fact that many of the same non-profit "recognized" groups have AILA member attorneys on staff too.
The EOIR and the DHS currently permit 503 "recognized organizations" of the Treason Lobby to have 619 of their employees playing "lawyer." These folks are allowed by the federal government to represent clients in EOIR Immigration Court, before the EOIR’s appellate body called the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and before Eduardo Aguirre’s DHS-USCIS service centers and district offices.
The EOIR publishes an updated list of the "recognized organizations" and "accredited representatives" every three months. The list of organizations authorized by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to employ pretend-lawyers reads like a who’s who of the Open Borders Lobby.
VDARE.com readers can already guess what’s coming. Guess who’s the biggest?
Yes! Out of the 503 "recognized organizations," the undisputed leader of the pack, with 156 separate non-profit groups for a whopping 31 percent of the nationwide total, is — Catholic Charities!
Then there are 26 Lutheran groups, 22 offices of something called "The International Institute," 18 offices of "The International Rescue Committee," 13 Jewish groups, 8 "World Relief Corporation" offices, 3 Quakers, 2 Episcopalians, and 2 "interfaith" groups.
The rest are a hodgepodge of legal aid operations and storefront leftist causes. Here’s a sample:
There’s no other area of law where non-lawyers are allowed to practice like this. It’s one more example of how the Permanent Government extends extraordinary privileges to the Treason Lobby — making the importation of aliens not just easier, but also profitable.
Fortunately, federal regulations are the responsibility of the Executive Branch. And we have a Republican President.
He could end this racket today.
What’s he waiting for?
Juan Mann is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.