Lawsuit challenges Trump’s suspension of program that helps detained immigrants

A lawsuit was filed Friday challenging President Donald Trump’s order to stop legal orientation programs for people held in immigration detention centers. The lawsuit aims to restore immediate access to those programs.

It's a program that Congress has been funding for more than 20 years, in which local organizations hold workshops for groups of people facing deportation.

“These are programs that target people who don't have an attorney to provide basic legal information about what's going to happen at this hearing and to help them figure out if they can apply for any type of immigration benefit,” said Matt Adams, legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), which ran these workshops at Tacoma’s detention center. NWIRP is one of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.

RELATED: Immigrant families in Seattle seek sanctuary and safety as ICE threat looms

Adams said the vast majority of people facing deportation represent themselves, and giving them basic information and helping them fill out necessary paperwork saves money by helping the courts run more smoothly.

Because of Trump’s suspension of the program, the organizations that ran these workshops no longer have funding to do so — or access to the names and court dates of immigrants in detention, or a classroom to meet with them there.

RELATED: Churches have a long history of being safe havens — for immigrants and others