LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – As Title 42 is expected to be lifted on May 11th, 2023, immigration attorneys like Dee Sull are anticipating a rise in immigration and asylum cases.
“The problem will be as Title 42 comes down tomorrow, it’s always a struggle just like the average American to get access to the counsel. So, getting to us is going to be a little trickier,” said Sull.
Under Title 42, migrants seeking asylum at the border were turned away as part of a public health policy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“The displacement of people has been growing and probably will grow for years to come until we get a handle on global solutions and a more humane, robust, and relevant immigration system,” Sull added.
Alissa Cooley, managing attorney at the UNLV Immigration Clinic said while anyone entering the U.S. can seek asylum, the process can be lengthy.
“There’s that common misconception of “just do it the right way” well actually to ask for asylum at the border is the right way,” Cooley explained.
She said they won’t know the local impact until Title 42 expires but expects increased demand for help.
“Think of those families that have been waiting in Mexico for three years, probably living in a shelter, may be able to find work, only enough to just feed themselves so they’re not going to have the resources most likely to hire an attorney,” Cooley added.
She knows there will be an immigration backlog that could take years to file.
“The number of asylum seekers at that point was already very high because it’s already been 18 months to a year of that point, but now we’ve made it unnecessarily long, so we created it, whatever the numbers are moving forward from tomorrow, we probably doubled it,” Cooley said.
For more information on Dee Sull and her services, click here.
For more on UNLV’s immigration clinic, click here.
Other immigration resources also include:
Legal Aid of Southern Nevada and PLANevada (Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada)
