Rutgers Law School Will Help Represent Detained Immigrants

NEWARK, NJ — Rutgers Law School is participating in a state pilot program that will provide legal representation to low-income immigrants who are in detention or facing possible deportation.

Rutgers administrators announced Friday that the law school is one of four legal partners of the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, which also includes Legal Services of New Jersey, American Friends Service Committee, and Seton Hall Law School.

Pina Cirillo, an attorney who works with the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Rutgers Law, was hired in January as part of the pilot program. Cirillo has already started meeting with – and representing – clients in detention, Rutgers administrators said.

The overall mission of the new program is “to help New Jersey’s detained immigrant population obtain free, high-quality representation,” Cirillo said.

“I’m really excited about the project,” enthused Cirillo, who graduated in 2015 from Rutgers Law School and then spent two years as a clerk for an immigration court.

Now, she’s getting a chance to see the “other side of immigration court,” Rutgers administrators said.

Cirillo said her clients – some of whom are legal green card holders – were most often left with no other option than to represent themselves in court with no legal training. She pointed out that in criminal court, a defendant is entitled to a public defender, but in immigration court, no such right exists.

Clients with no legal training struggle to represent themselves adequately, whether it is having to fill out complicated legal paperwork, to preparing for court appearances, Cirillo noted. Many also have the additional hardship of not being fluent in English.

Cirillo works under the supervision of professor Anju Gupta, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic.

“We’re thrilled to have Pina, an alumnus of the clinic, back with us for this important project,” Gupta said. “The funding from the governor is an important step in ensuring that all of New Jersey’s detained immigrants get the representation they deserve. We hope this is only the beginning.”

• See related article: This Lawyer Used To Deport Immigrants; Now She Defends Them

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Photo: Pina Cirillo (Rutgers Law School)