Hudson Kyle

The Project

Hudson prevented the rushed deportations of immigrants with prior removal orders, reopened their proceedings, and helped them seek relief.

For thousands of immigrants with prior removal orders, all that stands between them and deportation is an ICE arrest and a few days of processing. The 1900-bed South Texas ICE Processing Center (STIPC) in Pearsall, Texas is among the largest immigration detention centers in the country. Most people detained at STIPC are placed in removal proceedings, but those with prior removal orders can be—and almost always are—deported without seeing a judge. The process can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to as short as a couple of days. Too few of the people detained at STIPC obtain legal representation, in part because of STIPC’s distance from major cities. For people with prior orders, the timeline is expedited, which makes it all the harder to find a lawyer. At STIPC, the immigrants being deported the fastest have the least access to counsel. This project worked to correct that.

Fellowship Highlights

Hudson represented more than 50 people in their immigration proceedings and helped nearly 20 of them get out of detention. Most of the people Hudson served would not have otherwise had counsel, in part because their final removal orders gave them little time and little chance at relief. While the losses were difficult, the wins were invigorating: stopping deportations that were days or hours away, winning release from detention, and giving clients another chance at life in the U.S. In one case, Hudson represented a Honduran woman who was ordered removed after she missed a court date because her poor health made it impossible to travel to court; she was told she would be deported without seeing a judge. Hudson’s motion to reopen her case was granted, and Hudson is now working with her to prepare her asylum case outside of detention.

Next Steps

Following the Fellowship, Hudson has stayed at RAICES as a staff attorney, where he continues to represent people with final removal orders on the cusp of deportation, and advise other attorneys as they do the same.