Trump order closes help desk in Detroit court for those facing deportation

• In his first week, President Donald Trump cut funding to services focused on helping undocumented residents
• One immigration attorney viewed it as a step to prepare for mass deportations
• The service had helped about 10,000 people since 2021

There were immigrants facing deportation waiting for Ruby Robinson to arrive at 8 a.m. Thursday at a small conference room in Detroit’s immigration court.

Every day, immigrants arrive early, awaiting a chance to learn the ins and outs of deportation proceedings from the staff of Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. 

But on Thursday, Robinson put up a sign in the room. It read, “Services are suspended.”

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump led to the organization receiving a stop work order late Wednesday, requiring it to close down the help desk that has served about 10,000 people in Detroit’s immigration court since 2021. Similar help desks in immigration courts in 17 other cities nationwide were shut down the same day.

“This is intentional and purposeful,” said Robinson, the senior managing attorney for MIRC. “Turning off legal access programs will be essential to carry out mass deportation.”

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The group, which has operated a help desk in immigration court for four years, received the stop-work order in conjunction with an executive order signed by Trump titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”

The president, in his executive order directing the federal government to prepare for deportations and detentions, said he believes "many" people who entered the nation illegally pose threats to national security or public safety and have "abused the generosity of the American people."

Trump said action was necessary given the "unprecedented flood of illegal immigration" under his predecessor. 

There were a record number of border crossings between 2021 and 2023 under then- President Joe Biden, although the estimated 11.7 million immigrants in the country as of July 2023 was less than the peak of 12 million in 2008 under then-President George Bush.

Trump’s executive order does not reference reasoning for defunding immigration court help centers, which have been funded by Congress.

The help desk, which provides information in multiple languages about the rights of the undocumented and how deportation proceedings work, is funded in large part through the U.S. Department of Justice.

The salaries of four full-time staff members at MIRC were funded through those federal funds. The group is now pleading for donations to fill the budget hole.

Robinson declined to say how much money needs to be raised. Even with an influx of contributions, the nonprofit agency will lose access to the room in the immigration court where it met with those facing deportation. It’s unclear how practical it will be for the agency to provide the same services in court hallways, or by phone from one of their offices around the state.

There are currently about 31,000 people with cases in Detroit’s immigration court, which is inside the McNamara Federal Building, double the tally from a year ago and triple the figure from two years ago, Robinson said.

The service didn’t provide legal opinions, but offered what amounted to a road map for what can be a complicated process, said Christine Suave, community engagement and communications coordinator for the agency.

Because immigration procedures are considered civil cases, immigrants do not have a right to an attorney as in criminal cases. Only about a quarter of immigrants in Detroit’s court have an attorney, and even if they have the money, “There are not enough attorneys to serve all the immigrants who need one.”

The nonprofit has at times represented children in court who would have otherwise had to represent themselves, Suave said.

“With the increase in enforcement actions, we know there will be more need,” she said.

The closing of help desks for those facing deportation procedures is among a flurry of actions by the president, who on Monday issued orders declaring a national emergency at the southern border and ending asylum policies. This week he also threatened to cut off federal funding and prosecute local officials of communities that hinder deportation efforts.