Lawyers help clients navigate complex immigration laws they are unable to understand alone: Mariana’s story

Mariana recounted emotionally that immigration court was “horrible, so, so stressful …When I was first detained with ICE there were so many thoughts in my mind … I was so, so stressed out … because I put my whole life right there, in their hands, my children’s lives, my family’s.” She described feeling physically ill when she went to court and tried to defend herself alone. She submitted her young children’s pictures to the judge, hoping to demonstrate the burden her detention was causing the family. Instead of helping her case, this just reinforced how little Mariana understood about the process, as “[the government attorney] was laughing at me.” She recounted, “when you’re there and you don’t have a lawyer, it’s like, you feel somehow like, like, unprotected … because you don’t even understand what they’re telling you. You just hear them say all these court words and saying all these codes and stuff.”

Mariana’s feelings about the process changed when she received a lawyer. She reflected: “With the lawyer it’s just so much different because they understand all these things.”

Mariana underscored the impact of representation by describing the trauma her family experienced while she was detained and the loss they would experience in her absence. Mariana’s three children started having anger and behavior problems when she was detained, though her parents, who were caring for the children temporarily, tried to shield Mariana from the stress they were experiencing. While Mariana was in detention, her brother committed suicide, contributing to the family’s trauma. Her parents were suffering financially with the sudden changes in their lives and Mariana felt like she had no “control on what’s happening outside.” She described this as the hardest part of her life and reflected that she was so lucky, and so thankful, that she got a free lawyer, noting, “there were a lot of women . . . they had simple cases and they just decided to deport themselves because of the conditions. They would just sign the papers, even though they had all their kids here, they just signed because they couldn’t take the conditions and they didn’t have money for a lawyer.” Mariana has now been reunited with her children while she awaits a decision on her case, and the family is working to repair the damage caused by their separation.