Illegal immigrants are lawyering up

The majority of immigration court cases in 2013 involved immigrants who had legal representation, a reversal from five years ago, according to new data from the federal government.

In 2013, 59 percent of those in immigration proceedings had legal representation—that’s a big jump from 2009, when just 39 percent had lawyers. In 2012, a very slim majority of cases had clients with no legal representation. Those figures come from the 2013 statistical yearbook from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, which is part of the Justice Department.

So, what happened? A number of factors are at play.

For one, the government has done more to help connect the undocumented with pro bono resources, particularly the EOIR working with third-party groups. For instance, Health and Human Services has funded the coordination of pro bono representation of juveniles in immigration proceedings.