Soledad M. Bavio Miércoles, 13 de Agosto del 2025
Civil society organizations focused on the legal defense of migrants continue their work despite funding cuts, says Noah Montague, “to seek immigration relief and navigate a system that even we can’t manage ourselves."
By Soledad M. Bavio
Al Otro Lado is one of the many organizations whose work in detention centers has been affected by the funding cuts from the United States Department of Justice.
Noah Montague, an accredited representative with the U.S. Department of Justice, spoke to Los Ángeles Press about this ongoing challenge.It has been six months since the administration of President Donald Trump canceled the program aimed at providing legal guidance to immigrants in the United States. The measure affected all legal service providers under the Department of Justice that had been receiving federal funding up until that point.
The main victims were those facing immigration court proceedings, who had been supported by civil society organizations — the same organizations that now must find alternative sources of funding to continue their work, albeit with greater obstacles.
A similar situation occurred in 2018, when immigrant rights advocates expressed outrage over Trump’s decision to suspend a program that provided legal counsel to hundreds of people involved in deportation proceedings.
More than 550 organizations across 37 states have been affected by the elimination of 373 grants awarded by the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
One of the organizations helping immigrants is Al Otro Lado. Noah Montague affirms: “We must keep fighting because working in any detention center is already very difficult. It’s a process. The federal government set the rules when they created this as a formal program, and that gave us structure and ways to do this work — since it’s different at every center.”
Montague states: “Today, we are left to continue this program and negotiate directly with the detention center, although we no longer have the same level of access as before. Access has decreased and so has the number of people we’re able to assist.”
It is important to note that, prior to the funding cuts, the national program facilitated access. Once inside the facility, legal services could be offered, and “we used to receive weekly information about the people arriving.” Now, interviews are conducted under stricter limitations, in a visitor center and shared spaces, which means “we can’t hold extensive group sessions,” and “there is no access to the arrival list.”
Al Otro Lado currently holds a contract with the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, a “very small center.” Even so, Montague explains, “it’s quite difficult for people to understand how the system works. There’s very little knowledge. Inside detention, access is even more restricted. We are their only point of contact.” The organization previously operated at Otay Mesa, Adelanto, and Desert View.
The Imperial Regional Detention Facility, located in California, operates under the jurisdiction of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is managed by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a global company that claims to “provide effective rehabilitation programs and services in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia to reduce recidivism and collaborate with ICE to offer people in their care safe, respectful, and clean living environments,” according to its official description.
Record-High Detentions in 2025
According to Montague’s experience, “the current situation has changed significantly. Many people arriving in the U.S. today are fleeing persecution in their home countries. We’re seeing different populations arriving in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Utah, and Nevada. Some make it to court without being detained, working freely.”
He notes that “many people in detention lose the will to continue their cases and ask to leave the United States—requesting voluntary departure, cancellation of deportation, or to resolve their case through family-based processes.”
However, “we’re seeing more appeals from the government than ever before,” he warns, adding that “there is no fixed timeline” for the duration of detentions.
According to Consumer Law Group, “the increase in immigrant detentions in 2025 reflects a shift in immigration policy and an intensification of ICE operations,” with “more than 51,302 people detained in ICE detention centers—the highest number since 2019.”
This surge has raised concerns about the conditions in detention facilities and the broader impact on immigrant communities.
Stories That Leave a Mark, Histories That Emerge
Montague has often reflected on the most difficult cases he’s encountered — and without a doubt, they are the ones involving sexual violence or abuse. “Often it’s women, but I’ve also started to see men. It’s important to be able to talk to someone when an older man has been a victim of gang violence or rape. It takes courage to try to stay strong after saying something that brings him shame,” he explains.
These situations are particularly impactful, but there are others. “I identify as part of the LGBT community,” Montague shares. “There are people who come from countries where they were persecuted — who had to flee because they were considered ‘the other,’ for being LGBT, for their religion, political beliefs, or because they’re from Indigenous communities. You have to open up a story. We say we provide legal counseling, but it’s also emotional counseling — for things that have never been said before.”
These federal grants, originally totaling approximately $819.7 million, funded programs related to violence prevention, victim services, juvenile justice, and mental health, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
“We Cannot Remain Silent”
In late July, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) reported that a dozen organizations had filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging a ruling that upheld the Trump administration’s decision to terminate national legal orientation programs for unrepresented immigrants, such as the “Know Your Rights” initiative.
“We are in the midst of a historic era of executive overreach, which has resulted in the arbitrary and inhumane disappearance and detention of longtime neighbors and people in need of vital protection,” said Azadeh Erfani, a senior policy analyst at the NIJC.
“The Legal Orientation Program, the Immigration Court Helpdesk, and other related initiatives are vital safeguards — a last line of defense against the administration’s campaign of terror against immigrant communities. The Trump administration hopes we’ll ignore the elimination of these essential programs. But we cannot remain silent while every shred of due process protection is dismantled.”
Conditions That Violate International Human Rights Standards
At the end of July, Americans for Immigrant Justice, Human Rights Watch, and Sanctuary of the South released a report titled You Feel Like Your Life Is Over”: Abusive Practices in Three Florida Immigration Detention Centers Since January 2025. The report documents unsanitary and degrading conditions endured by individuals detained for immigration-related reasons — nearly 72% of whom had no prior criminal record.
The investigation revealed that staff at the three detention facilities subjected detainees to dangerously inadequate medical care, overcrowding, abusive treatment, and restrictions on access to legal and psychosocial support. Officials denied detainees essential medications, and some were placed in solitary confinement — apparently as punishment for requesting mental health care.
"We’re Being Pushed to the Limit"
Toward the end of the interview, Montague emphasizes that the current moment presents serious and unprecedented challenges. “There is fear over what our president is doing — pushing boundaries, interpreting our Constitution to the edge, violating rights. There’s a kind of shift we’ve never had to navigate before. It will pass. It’s erratic and fast, but they’re testing the limit. There’s fear over what’s coming next.”
“We have to fight to seek immigration relief. We try to help navigate that fear — and navigate a system that is moving so quickly, even we can’t keep up.”