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OFFICE or THE MAYOR
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Mayor 9"  DENVER, CO 30202-5390
as!? TELEPHONE: (720) 865-9090 - FAX: (72.0) 865-8787

(720) 865-9010

April 19, 2018

The Honorable Jeff Sessions
Attorney General

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Sessions:

On behalf of the City and County of Denver, we strongly condemn your decision to end the Legal
Orientation Program (LOP) as of April 30, 2018. We are committed to ensuring that Denver?s immigrant
and refugee communities are empowered with legal information and have access to justice. We know
that this legal information becomes all the more vital when individuals are separated from their loved
ones and placed in civil immigration detention. The LOP, which is carried out by the Rocky Mountain
Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) in Colorado, has provided this essential protection for individuals
in immigration detention for the last fifteen years. To abruptly end this program would have a
devastating impact on access to justice for immigrants in Denver and beyond.

Denver is committed to ensuring that our community members who are separated from their families
and placed in civil immigration detention do not lose further protections in a system that already lacks
fundamental safeguards. Individuals in immigration detention?including asylum-seekers, victims of
human traf?cking, long-time residents, women, refugees and others?do not have the right to court-
appointed counsel in their immigration cases. Yet immigration law is incredibly complex, and for many
of our community members, the stakes in these court cases could not be higher. Deportation will mean
permanent separation from family; banishment from the only community they have known; return to a
country where they may face persecution and harm; or, as the U5. Supreme Court has said, a loss of ?all
that makes life worth living.?

Despite these high stakes, only 9% of the individuals at the immigration detention center in Aurora and
before the Aurora Immigration Court have an attorney to represent them in their immigration court
proceedings. The LOP provides basic and essential legal information to help ?ll this gap by providing
general orientations, individual orientations, pro se support and referral to pro bono attorneys. For
nearly everyone in civil immigration detention, this opportunity to consult with a nonpro?t immigration
attorney is their only opportunity to learn about their legal rights, understand removal proceedings,
make informed decisions about their cases and be connected to pro bono attorneys. Here in Colorado,

the RMIAN is able to provide this critical legal information to over 2,300 individuals in civil immigration
detention every year through the LOP.

The same commitment and dedication to our immigrant and refugee community members that led
Denver to pass the Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act and create the Denver Immigrant Legal
Services Fund guides our strong support for the LOP. We believe that due process is fundamental to who
we are as a country, and we are committed to ?ghting for that value and that right for all Denver
residents and their families.

in addition to Denver?s commitment to ensuring our residents have access to due process and justice,
regardless of immigration status, the LOP has demonstrated that it is cost-effective and that it promotes
greater efficiency in the Immigration Court system. When individuals are empowered with information,
they can make informed decisions about their legal cases, including the decision not to fight their cases
and languish in detention if there is no remedy under federal immigration law. The Department of
Justice concluded in a 2012 study that participants in the LOP completed their detained immigration
court proceedings an average of twelve days faster than those who did not participate, resulting in vast
savings to the federal government. This study found that the program created a net savings for the
government of nearly $18 million-meaning that every $1 the government spent on the LOP saved 

To dismantle this demonstrably successful and effective program with just twenty days? notice under
the justi?cation of conducting further evaluation is necessarily flawed. If further evaluation is desired,
this evaluation could and should take place while the program continues to operate and provide critical
services.

Terminating the LOP would eliminate vital protections for thousands of our community members who

are separated from their loved ones and placed in civil immigration detention. We request that you
reverse your decision and allow the LOP to continue.

#54 mag?

Michael B. Hancock Albus Brooks Rafael G. Espinoza

Respectfully,

 

Mayor City Council President, District 9 City Council, District 1
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Kevin Paul D. Lopez Kendra Black
City Council, District 2 City Council, District 3 City Council, District 4

WWMAMM Goa/$44, 

Mary Beth Susman Paul Kashmann Jolon Clark

City Council, District 5 City Council, District 6 City Council, District 7

ChristopherJ. Herndon Stacie Gilmore

City Council, District 8 City Council, District 11
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Robin Kniech Deborah ?Debbie? Ortega

City Council, At Large City Council, At Large