The Unseen But Vital Role of DOJʻs Recognition and Accreditation Program
Immigration law is notoriously complex, and due process can be hard to achieve when people facing deportation or applying for immigration benefits must navigate the system alone. Immigration court proceedings often have life-altering consequences for individuals and their families. But because the cases are civil and not criminal, there’s no constitutional right to court-appointed counsel – even for children. The same is true for those seeking to obtain their green cards, applying for naturalization, or petitioning to reunite with loved ones
For almost 70 years, DOJ helped address this problem by expanding access to legal representation for immigrants through its Recognition and Accreditation Program (R&A), housed within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). But in March, as Justice Connection posted, this administration hollowed out the program for reasons it’s failed to articulate. CBS News reported that the “attorneys who operated the program were abruptly reassigned to work in immigration courts last week, leaving in place only two support staff with no legal authority to approve or renew accreditation applications.”
Not that many people know about R&A. I didn’t either, even though I worked at Main Justice for a decade, including in immigration enforcement as part of the Criminal Division’s Office of Special Investigations (later the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section). I even litigated an issue involving the appointment of EOIR officials, and yet I only learned of R&A after I left DOJ and later began volunteering for a faith-based social services organization. That group provides high-quality immigration legal services principally to lawfully present refugees who fled war and persecution in their homelands.
With my newfound appreciation for R&A’s crucial work, I wanted to talk about this program from the other side of the ledger.
What R&A Does
The program facilitates vital assistance to low-income immigrants by allowing non-attorneys represent clients and practice immigration law in certain settings.
R&A accredits individuals as “legal representatives” who must work under the supervision of a not-for-profit organization that is recognized by the Department. Since the program’s inception in 1958 by regulation, DOJ recognized for this purpose religious, charitable, and social services organizations that serve primarily low-income and indigent clients. The Department understood that the immigration system was stronger when the most vulnerable immigrants had access to qualified legal representation, and that attorneys weren’t always needed to provide it.
Recognition and accreditation of both organizations and people are processes subject to rigorous review requiring both to demonstrate qualifications, experience, and breadth of immigration law knowledge and training. Recognized organizations are required to have formalized access to technical legal assistance (such as an attorney on staff, or an agreement with another recognized organization). Like attorneys, accredited representatives are expected to attend Continuing Legal Education programs and stay up to date on legal and policy developments relevant to their limited practice areas in order to keep their clients informed.
There were two types of accredited representatives: partially accredited and fully accredited. Partially accredited (the vast majority) representatives can enter appearances on behalf of clients before DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). They prepare applications and represent clients affirmatively seeking immigration benefits such as applying for a green card, naturalization, reuniting with immediate family members overseas, and securing work authorization documentation, to name a few. Fully accredited representatives are able to practice before USCIS but may also represent clients defensively before DOJ’s immigration courts in removal proceedings and before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Fully accredited representatives needed to possess additional formal training, education, or experience related to trial and appellate advocacy.
Why R&A Matters
One of the biggest problems in the broken U.S. immigration system is the seemingly insurmountable backlog of cases in both immigration court and before USCIS.
The numbers speak for themselves, with over 1.5 million asylum applications pending before USCIS and more than 2.4 million asylum cases pending in immigration courts. R&A accredited more than 2,600 non-attorney representatives across roughly more than 850 recognized programs around the country.
According to a former immigration judge, the program ensured that low-income immigrants could “obtain assistance in negotiating the complex maze of immigration law to either obtain relief or accept voluntary departure or removal, saving time and money for our overburdened court system by reducing the need for numerous court appearances and reducing appeals.” Anna Gallagher, Executive Director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network – which provides legal training and support to a network of some 400 affiliated organizations that together served over half a million clients in 2025 – agrees. She told CBS that R&A “saves lives and it also helps alleviate the backlogs in the immigration system.” The number of immigration cases pending in the immigration system is not only insurmountably high, but staying in compliance is also becoming even more challenging. For example, refugees (again, lawfully admitted to the United States) are required, after being present for a year, to apply for green cards. Yet USCIS has paused all green card adjudication for refugees and issued a policy (currently blocked) that seeks to detain refugees who had not yet applied for or received their green cards.
To say that refugees could use help navigating this dystopian policy landscape is an understatement.
R&Aʻs Outsized Benefit
I work with other volunteer attorneys and accredited non-attorney legal representatives serving mainly lawfully admitted refugees resettled in the United States who fled persecution and conflict.
Our clients include those who have fought for democracy and against regimes hostile to the United States, and who were persecuted for doing so. They already underwent a series of rigorous vetting procedures overseas by the U.S. government.
Granting relief to refugees doesn’t just benefit them; it benefits our nation. Many of my organization’s clients work several jobs, pay their taxes, raise their families, are civically active, and strive to improve their own financial well-being and contribute to the economic livelihood of their communities. Furthermore, when recognized organizations petition for overseas family members to join their clients, they bring in built-in daycare, additional employees for our region’s and nation’s workforce needs, and most importantly reunite families torn apart by conflicts. Many of our clients work in health care and in factories, including those that produced medical equipment for the nation designed to address the COVID pandemic.
They need access to high-quality legal services and advocates in their corner. Recognized organizations counsel adherence and compliance with immigration laws; beyond helping to fill out forms, they integrate new Americans into a civic and legal infrastructure that has all too often been lacking in their prior home countries. Going through the legal immigration process creates a civic bond with the United States forged under the rule of law.
Without R&A-recognized organizations or accredited representatives available to help low-income immigrants, unscrupulous actors fill the void. In many immigrant communities, so-called “notarios” engage in the unauthorized practice of law: preying on vulnerable immigrants, charging exorbitant fees to desperate people only to do shoddy work, and increasing risk for their unfortunate customers.
R&A represented one of DOJ’s most important virtues: access to justice for everyone touched by our legal system. When I worked at DOJ, I was often reminded that I worked for the only federal agency named after an ideal and appreciated that we are the Department of Justice, not merely the Department of Prosecutions.
Decimating the program has dealt yet another blow to the immigrant community, and the principles that previously distinguished our great nation from those that many of my clients have fled.
Edgar Chen served for a decade at the Department in the Criminal Division as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Office of Special Investigations and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, and also as Attorney Advisor in the Office of Legislative Affairs. The piece represents the personal views of the author and should not be attributed or associated with any other organization he may be affiliated with, except for Justice Connection.
