Immigration Article of the Day: Immigration Legal Aid and Removal Proceeding Outcomes  by George Vojta

Immigration Legal Aid and Removal Proceeding Outcomes  by George Vojta

Abstract

I investigate how the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, the nation's first legal aid program providing "universal" representation to indigent detained immigrants, affects their outcomes in removal proceedings. Using difference-indifferences and event study designs, I find that NYIFUP increased the representation rate of this population by 103.6 percent (45.6 percentage points) and decreased their removals by 10.0 percent (7.3 percentage points). Using the same intervention as an instrument in an Instrumental Variable design, I estimate that providing this population with an attorney reduces the probability of removal by 21.8 percent (15.9 percentage points). I also conduct a distributional analysis that reveals this policy predominantly operates on the extensive margin of representation, providing representation to those who were unlikely to have it before the intervention.