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Battling Deportation Often a Solitary Journey
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"Did you find an attorney to represent you?" Malphrus asked.
"Not yet," she said through an interpreter.
"I'm not aware of any basis that you have for remaining in the United States," Malphrus told her. "The only thing I can do is grant you voluntary departure from the United States in four months."
"Okay," Velasco said, with a nod.
After a lunch break, Juan Carlos Lopez, a 17-year-old Honduran, awaited his hearing. His brother, Johnny Sandoval, 23, said two mortgages and two jobs leave him little time or money to get a lawyer for Juan Carlos, who crossed the border illegally in April.
Soon the brothers sat before the judge, who said he would postpone the case until February. But bring a lawyer, he told them.
"His aunt is a resident," Sandoval said. "Is there any way she can sponsor him?"
"I don't think an aunt is sufficient, right?" Malphrus said to the prosecutor.
"The other option is to try to get him a visa to attend school here, but you need to do that back in Honduras," Malphrus said. "Anyway, talk to lawyers about that some more."
Justice can be done without lawyers, but it is tedious, said Denise N. Slavin, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Paperwork-heavy cases, she said, might take two hearings with a good attorney but eight without.
"You're acting like someone at the DMV on those cases," said Slavin, a Miami judge. "Like, 'Okay, you've got your registration; you don't have your pollution certificate.' "
Pro se detainees sometimes file motions modeled on boilerplates that are passed around detention centers. Lawyers say other people have good cases but founder in court, not knowing when to object or what evidence to prepare.
