On Friday, Democratic Representatives Bill Foster of Illinois and Ted Deutch of Florida put forward a bill that would force the federal government to read detained illegal immigrants their rights. Detention centers do not have the obligation to read detainees their rights.
The bill would create an Office of Legal Access Programs designed to help inform illegal immigrants. Foster called the current system an “egregious violation of a person’s most basic rights, it is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars when courts are not able to proceed,” adding, “Providing information on legal rights is fundamental to our democracy and should not be optional.” The Department of Justice would force all centers to have legal origination programs in both English and five other languages.
Under federal law, agents are not obligated to read illegal immigrants detained for deportation their rights. Illegal immigrants also do not have a right to a taxpayer-provided lawyer for deportation proceedings.
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