Interest Group Essay: American Immigration Lawyers Association

Cynthia V Fonseca

Salt Lake Community College

POLS 1100: American Government and Politics

Perparim Gutaj, PhD

June 25, 2023

 Interest Group Essay: American Immigration Lawyers Association

An interest group can be defined as a group of individuals with a common interest who seek to

influence public Policy. For this assignment I have chosen The American Immigration Lawyers

Association (AILA) to focus on because it is an interest group that I have worked with in past. I am

interested in becoming an Immigration Attorney myself one day and currently work as an immigration

paralegal for a non-profit office in the state of Utah. AILA provides immigration training every year and I

have joined the past year. I find their work interesting and motivating.

AILA is an interest group that was originally founded in 1946 by 19 immigration lawyers in

Manhattan. At the time some of the members recognized the need for a bar association to represent

immigrants in the United States. Now the Association consists of over 16,000 attorneys and professors

who practice and teach immigration Law. AILA represents a variety of clients from families seeking

permanent residence to foreign students, and many more. Most of the cases they handle are pro bono.

According to Targeted News Service, The Council is a non-profit organization established to increase

public understanding of immigration law and policy, advocate for the just and fair administration of our

immigration laws, protect the legal rights of noncitizens, and educate the public about the enduring

contributions of America's immigrants.

The association promotes justice, fair and reasonable immigration law and policy as their

member's mission. AILA details their strategic goals and how they plan to achieve them. The first

goal they have is to Increase member participation in advocacy before Congress, the Judiciary,

the Federal Agencies, and the media, for immigration-related interests of our clients and society.

One of the ways that AILA plans to take action towards accomplishing their goals is by educating

the public and by supporting other associations that work hard to educate communities as well. I

have been on the receiving end of their training and have found them to be very helpful in my

career. Another step they have detailed is that they want to enhance respect for immigration
law, and professional recognition of immigration lawyers, by government, the bar, and society.

The second goal that AILA has is to Enhance the litigation capabilities of the membership as an

important option to ensure the just administration of our immigration laws. One of the ways they

plan to go about this goal is by assisting members in effectively and competently pursuing their

law practice and enhancing their professional satisfaction.

AILA fights for fairness in court. Currently the law does not guarantee the government

will pay for an attorney if a person is unable to afford one. AILA has urged the Biden

Administration to establish a program that will guarantee paid legal representation to those who

may be facing removal and unable to afford an attorney. In the US, our criminal system

guarantees that any defendant in jail will be appointed counsel if they cannot afford their own.

However, it does not guarantee this same benefit to all those who cannot afford an attorney,

such as those facing removal. In 2021 AILA created a list of recommendations on how a system

could be established and implement the private bar, nonprofits, and other existing systems. One

of the recommendations that I found the most interesting was to Design funding structures to

facilitate and expand participation by nonprofits, private counsel, public defender offices, and

other legal service providers, as well as avoid giving preference to any particular entity. The

principal goal driving funding determinations should be to ensure that the highest quality legal

services are delivered to the target population. Funding structures should give service providers

flexibility while also ensuring consistency and stability. The Reason I found this one the most

interesting is because I work for a non-profit, I know that without funding there is not much our

office can do. Recently I myself was faced with having a case I wanted to help out with, however

due to our lack of funding we had to turn down the client. Sometimes the funding we receive is

also very limited to very specific cases, once again this causes us to have to turn down many

cases on a daily basis because of our lack of resources.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has established the importance of

educating the public and continue to fight for the rights of representation for immigrants in our

country. Overall, I think this interest group does a great job for vast community of immigrants in

our county. I believe that their work not only benefits the public, those in need of immigration
representation, but they also help train many individuals interested in immigration such as

myself.
 References

AILA. American Immigration Lawyers Association. (n.d.). https://www.aila.org/

American immigration lawyers association, american immigration council issue public comment to u.s.

citizenship & immigration services. (2022, June 4). Targeted News Service. Retrieved June 26,

2023,.

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