Wall Street Journal Quotes Pro Bono Partner Steve Schulman on Work with Migrants at US Border
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The Wall Street Journal, for its article “Aid Groups to Stop Representing Migrants in Remain in Mexico Program,” quoted Akin Gump pro bono partner Steve Schulman on certain border aid groups’ refusal to comply with federal government requests to provide legal representation to migrants in the Remain in Mexico program in an effort to pressure the Biden-Harris administration to shut the program down.
The administration restarted the program, notes the Journal, after a federal judge ordered it in a case brought by Texas and Missouri. The government’s appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court this spring.
In conjunction with the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts, Akin Gump, the Journal reports, is overseeing volunteers from other law firms to conduct basic legal orientation briefings for migrants appearing in court.
Schulman said Akin Gump arranges for lawyers to work in shifts during which, over the telephone, they advise migrants being set back to Mexico on ways they might qualify for an exception and remain in the United States.
He noted that his participation does not mean he supports the Remain in Mexico program: “I don’t think the people I am working with in the administration are fans of MPP [Migration Protection Protocols, the official name of the program] either. But they believe in the rule of law and want to follow the law, and I respect that.”
