Despite nearly two decades of bipartisan support, the Trump administration terminated programs providing basic due process protections for people navigating their immigration cases on April 16, 2025: the Legal Orientation Program, the Legal Orientation Program for Custodians, Immigration Court Helpdesk, Family Group Legal Orientation Program, and Counsel for Children Initiative.
To justify terminating the contract, the Department of Justice claims they intend to federalize the program, which will mean the same administration trying to deport millions of people will also be responsible for ensuring that those people understand their basic legal rights and obligations and are treated with dignity.
Let’s be clear. This clear conflict of interest will deny people detained by ICE access to basic information about what is happening to them. And when people are being ripped off the streets from their communities by masked agents with no impunity or accountability, they deserve – at a minimum – to have access to the same due process rights guaranteed to everyone in the U.S. under the Constitution. Due process rights are not up for debate.
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About
The Legal Orientation Program for adults who are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to improve the judicial efficiency and effectiveness of EOIR Immigration Court proceedings and processes. The program educates people on their rights, including how to request release from custody and advocate for themselves in court, ensuring a modicum of due process in a high-stakes, complex, and often adversarial system.
In Our Network
18 providers operate in 35 ICE facilities. The LOP Information Line provides services nationally and expanded the program’s reach to 70 ICE facilities.
Services
- Group orientations are presentations that offer a general overview of immigration law, legal rights, facility processes, and the immigration removal process to adults detained by ICE.
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Individual orientations are one-on-one meetings where participants can seek legal advice and ask more detailed questions about specific defenses and forms of relief from removal, as well as about the court process.
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Self-help workshops are small workshops for participants who will be representing themselves to ask legal advice, prepare applications, and practice with others pursuing similar defenses or relief.
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Recognizing that legal representation is preferable for anyone in removal proceedings, referrals to pro bono attorneys are made where possible.
People Served
People detained in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who are, or may be, placed in immigration court and/or removal proceedings.
Our Partners Say
“A staff attorney was able to help an eighteen-year-old from Iran who was separated from his dad and younger brother at the border because he was eighteen. The staff attorney was able to help him get a bond and get released. The bond was $10,000 which the family was able to raise so the individual was reunited with his dad and brother.”
Legal Service Provider, Austin, TX
LOP Service Providers