Local immigration lawyers say they remain committed to representing their clients amid increased scrutiny from the Trump administration, but say they are concerned about what this kind of scrutiny means for the rule of law and the rights protected by the Constitution.
Last week, President Donald Trump asked the Department of Justice to investigate immigration lawyers who filed what he called “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” against the U.S. in the past eight years. Any firms found engaging in misconduct could lose federal contracts and security clearances.
Immigration lawyer Leslie Holman said that this action might have a chilling effect on which cases are brought to court. She splits her time between Vermont and New Hampshire and is encouraging her colleagues to continue to represent their clients.
“We are going to fight for these cases, and no one can tell us who we can't represent,” she said. “And we'll file cases on behalf of our clients, and good lawyers file meritorious cases to enforce the rule of the law.”
Claims of attorney misconduct
The memo also claims there is rampant fraud in the legal profession. It argues that this fraud creates mass unauthorized immigration, drains taxpayer resources and undermines the integrity of immigration laws and the legal profession more broadly.
The Trump administration alleges that immigration lawyers specifically “coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims,” in order to “deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief,” according to the memo sent by Trump to the Department of Justice.
Immigration lawyer Miki Matrician said that the accusation is unfounded. She serves as the New England chair of the American Association of Immigration Attorneys, a national professional organization with over 16,000 members in the U.S.
She explained that attorneys swear to uphold the law and the Constitution when they are admitted to the bar. She added that state bar organizations are already enforcing this by suspending or disbarring attorneys who commit misconduct. Instead, she said this order is trying to undermine lawyers.
“The administration's rhetoric is not only misleading, but dangerous as well,” she said. “It's really important to have the rule of law and that type of rhetoric that we have been hearing is delegitimizing to the attorneys whose job is to uphold the law.”
Partisan attacks
Boston has been the hub for many recent immigration actions, including the detention of a green card holder from Germany and the deportation of a HB-1 visa holder from Lebanon. These detentions also sparked outrage from lawyers, saying that these actions violated rights protected by the Constitution.
The memo from the Trump administration also takes aim at dozens of lawsuits against his executive actions on immigration — including one filed by New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support in Dover against Trump's effort to rescind birthright citizenship for certain children. Trump called these "baseless partisan attacks."
Boston-based immigration lawyer Matt Maiona gave an example of the importance of due process despite a deep political disagreement. As a history buff, he pointed to the case of U.S. President John Adams. After the Boston Massacre of 1770, Adams chose to represent British soldiers who fired into a crowd of Bostonians so they would have a fair trial — even though Adams opposed British rule and went on to sign the Declaration of Independence.
About 250 years later, Maiona said New England has a long history of supporting individual rights, which he called the “Boston Tea Party Effect.” He added that the right to due process and trial by jury is central to the rights that U.S. soldiers have fought to defend.
“They put their lives on the line and gave the ultimate sacrifice to support a Constitution, not a person,” he said. “As lawyers, we don't have to agree with what people did, but if we support the Constitution, we have to give them a chance.”
