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Politics & Government

Judge Orders Legal Representation for Noncitizen Detainees With Mental Disabilities

The decision comes after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jose Antonio Franco-Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant with a cognitive disability who was detained for nearly five years.

A Los Angeles federal judge today ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other government agencies to provide lawyers for noncitizen detainees with mental disabilities who are facing deportation and unable to represent themselves in immigration hearings.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee in the class action lawsuit is the first of its kind for immigrant detainees, who often languish in detention facilities for years without legal representation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Gee's order grants judgment in favor of plaintiffs in the case, Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, which applies to certain detainees in California and elsewhere.

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An ICE representative could not be reached for comment after regular business hours.

The decision comes more than three years after a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles federal court on behalf of Jose Antonio Franco-Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant with a cognitive disability who was detained in federal immigration facilities for nearly five years without a hearing or a lawyer.

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Franco-Gonzalez, now 33, was forced to represent himself even though a psychiatrist determined that he had no basic understanding of the immigration proceedings, and did not know how to defend himself.

In her ruling, Gee determined that for this class of plaintiffs, appointed counsel "is the only means by which they may'' defend themselves.

Moreover, the court criticized the government for not having any safeguards to protect this population.

"In this case ... the very basis of plaintiffs' claim is the absence of meaningful procedures to safeguard" detainees with mental disabilities, Gee wrote.

As a result, Gee ordered that detainees with serious mental disabilities be provided with qualified representatives at government expense and a bond hearing to avoid prolonged detention.

"Today's ruling ensures that immigrant detainees with mental disabilities finally get the legal representation they need," said Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California and the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project.

"As our country moves to implement common-sense immigration reform, we must insist that the rights of vulnerable groups caught in the immigration prisons are protected,'' Arulanantham said.

"Providing legal representation to people with significant mental disabilities is not only legally sound, but also the only humane way to run our immigration system."

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