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Media and Press

Trump and DOGE Continue Attack on Immigrants by Stripping Away Legal Representation for Those with Cognitive Disabilities and Significant Mental Health Needs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2025 

CONTACT: press@acaciajustice.org 

 

Trump and DOGE Continue Attack on Immigrants by Stripping Away Legal Representation for Those with Cognitive Disabilities and Significant Mental Health Needs

 

WASHINGTON – On Friday, April 25, the Department of Justice sent a partial termination notice for the National Qualified Representative Program, which provides Qualified Representatives to immigrants who are detained, unrepresented, and deemed incompetent to represent themselves because of a serious mental health condition. The program was established following a 2013 settlement in the class-action lawsuit Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, which remains applicable to immigrants in Arizona, California, and Washington. Individuals in all other states will lose their representation. 

This notice comes as new reporting reveals that the targeted attacks on due process for immigrants are manufactured by unelected members of the extra-legal ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ who appear intent on pursuing a political ideology regardless of the harm it does to people or fundamental principles like equal justice under the law.  

 

Shaina Aber, Executive Director of the Acacia Center for Justice, responded, “The National Qualified Representative Program is a lifeline of due process for vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities or significant mental health conditions which an immigration judge determines render them unable to represent themselves in immigration court. No one is better off by taking away lawyers from people with cognitive disabilities or mental health conditions that prevent them from participating in their court case. This attack, manufactured by DOGE affiliates, is the latest in a series of legally dubious attempts by this administration to terminate or severely curtail Acacia’s defense of due process for immigrant children, families, and adults. It is past time for Congress to step in and demand true oversight of DOGE’s overreach and direction of DOJ employees.  Congress must demand that the Department of Justice rescind its partial termination of a program that ensures that people adjudicated by courts as unable to represent their own interests are not deprived of due process and their court-appointed counsel.” 

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About Acacia Center for Justice

Acacia Center for Justice expands meaningful access to justice and freedom for immigrants at risk of detention or deportation in partnership with an accountable, independent national network of immigrant legal service providers and community partners. Acacia Center for Justice’s reach and impact are unparalleled. The national nonprofit currently operates eight federally funded programs and one state funded program through a network of 130+ legal service providers located in over 80 offices across the country.