By Virginia Barreda, Des Moines Register
A nonprofit that works with Iowa immigrants and refugees is turning to local government for help funding legal services for refugees on the heels of a new law that heightens their risk for detention.
Refugees can apply for lawful permanent residency after a year in the U.S. But a new memo the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released Feb. 18 states that refugees who do not have permanent residency — also known as a green card — after one year may be detained without bond throughout the process.
It follows a DHS order from November that pauses final decisions for refugee green card applications. This means refugees can submit applications, attend interviews, and complete background checks, but won’t get approved, said Lucas Asbury, managing attorney for Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, which provides low-cost immigration legal services to immigrants and refugees in Iowa.
Asbury, who handles cases for refugees, said the February memo is a contradiction that creates risk for the thousands of refugees who are trying to go through the legal process to stay in the U.S.
”If you can’t apply until one year, there is just no way that on day 366 you’re going to have a green card. It’s impossible,” he said, adding green card applications can take a year to process.
The latest memo, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, states that refugees must return to government custody for “inspection and examination” a year after their admission into the country. It ensures refugees are re-vetted and promotes public safety, the memo states.
Erica Johnson, founding executive director of IMMJ, asked Polk County supervisors in early March to provide $300,000 so the organization can hire additional attorneys to keep up with the caseload of green card applications.
Legal assistance is more important than ever to protect refugee families from detention or losing their status, she said.
Johnson estimates there are at least 3,000 Iowa refugees who need to adjust their immigration status and need access to legal services. The majority are likely in Polk County.
Detaining refugees under the new policy isn’t just a humanitarian issue, it also could have enormous ripple effects on Iowa’s economy, Asbury said. Iowa’s labor force, in industries like agriculture, meatpacking and manufacturing, could suddenly see a significant loss of labor if refugees are “yanked out of their communities,” he said. Parents who are detained could mean social services stepping in to help take care of their children.
Polk County Administrator Frank Marasco said the county has not received an official proposal from the organization, but will review it with the Board of Supervisors once it’s submitted.
What’s the need in Iowa?
For refugee families in Iowa, detention could mean jail time without bond while their application is processed, Asbury said. With the pause on refugee green card applications, jail time could be indefinite.
The policy already has started to take effect in places like Minnesota, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested some refugees who applied for their green cards, but did not receive them, IMMJ co-legal director Ann Naffier told Polk County supervisors at a meeting March 10.
A mass detention hasn’t happened in Polk County, Asbury said.
IMMJ officials estimate that over the past year, the organization served clients from five continents and nearly 100 countries, including refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Congo, Sudan, Iraq, Syria and Venezuela.
Refugees who face the largest risk from the new order are those with limited funds, language barriers and little knowledge of the U.S. legal system, Asbury said.
There are about 72 immigration attorneys across Iowa and Nebraska combined. And few organizations in Iowa provide low-cost or pro-bono immigration legal services, Asbury said.
IMMJ, which serves clients statewide, relies on a small legal staff and trained volunteers to work with refugees to conduct intake meetings, review and finalize applications.
Demand far exceeds the number of attorneys, Asbury said.
“It is a never-ending sea of people, and we’re only able to meet a tiny fraction of the need,” he said.
How will the funds help?
With the extra $300,000, IMMJ wants to hire more attorneys, boost clinics and train additional volunteers, Naffier said at the March 10 meeting.
IMMJ has about 190 refugees on its waiting list in Polk County needing to update their status, Asbury said. The organization wants to double the number of people it serves to help 500 people over the next year, Johnson told supervisors.
Asbury told the Register that additional resources don’t guarantee immunity from detention, but could reduce risk.
The further along in the process a person gets, the more compelling and unreasonable a detention becomes, he said.
“If they do start detaining people en masse in Iowa … I want as many of them to have applied as possible to show that the fact that they do not yet hold their green card is but through no fault of their own, but is just because of the government capriciously refusing to give it to them,” he said.
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