National Celebrate Pro Bono Week: Debbie Cooper
Debbie Cooper
Pro Bono Attorney
Why do you volunteer with RMIAN?
I volunteer with RMIAN because Colleen Cowgill, my main contact and mentor, and all of her colleagues and contacts with whom I have worked, are exceptionally kind, generous with their time, patient with my questions, well-informed, great teachers, responsive, and compassionate about my clients. While I came to this pro bono work with long experience in immigration detention advocacy and visitation, I had no experience representing immigration clients. This was not due to a lack of trying; over many years I had attempted to find opportunities to provide legal representation of detained immigrants like those I had visited, but without experience, the resources of a big law firm, or my own malpractice insurance, I’d had no success. Early last year, at the height of COVID, I found, on We The Action, an opportunity for training and pro bono work with The Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) Immigration Detention Accountability Project, and CREEC connected me with RMIAN for client referrals and malpractice coverage. Although I am in New York and RMIAN and my clients are in Colorado, my remote work has been seamless. I have worked with five clients with varying levels of complexity and success, and Colleen and everyone else have always been there for advice, support, additional training, and encouragement. They have provided amazing interpreters, and the examination and analysis of an outstanding physician for a client with severe medical issues. Despite being stuck in the bureaucracy of an immigration system that is opaque, inhumane, and infuriatingly slow, I could not ask for a better volunteer experience than mine with RMIAN.
What is a memorable moment you've had while volunteering with RMIAN?
The most memorable moment was when I learned that one of my clients was released from detention! After so much heartache and discretionary, unjust denial with other clients, it was almost surreal to call the detention center one morning and be told that I could not talk with my client because he was in processing to be released. When I’ve spoken with him since, it’s like talking with a different person, with a different voice filled with optimism and relief, living a real-life, freely exploring his new surroundings, and trying to help his new friends who are still in detention. It’s inspiring!
Why does this work matter to you?
As an attorney, I am privileged to have skills that can help others beyond what they might be able to do for themselves. I am passionate about human and civil rights, and the justice and equity necessary to them. Immigration is among the closest to my heart, perhaps, in part, because three of my grandparents (and my other grandfather’s parents) were immigrants, with refugees among them. While so much must be done to make our immigration system fair and welcoming, its massive civil detention system is especially horrific. Human beings who have only been accused of violating, or even found to have violated, civil/administrative immigration laws, in a broken, overwhelmed system outside the due process of our judicial system, and have not been accused or convicted of a criminal offense, should not be incarcerated at all, much less in the current unaccountable, inaccessible, privately run warehouses that confine them. After two years of walking through a series of intimidating metal doors to sit in a prison-like visiting room to talk on phones through glass barriers with uniformed detained immigrants who were simply waiting for a court date, I was determined to do more to free them from this inhumanity and show them a better side to our country. I am tremendously appreciative of RMIAN for providing me the opportunity to do that.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I am so grateful to be a lawyer, to help uphold the rule of law and enable people to access their legal rights. Lawyers can do so much good if they want to, and there are so many people whose lives would be improved with their assistance. I’m thankful to RMIAN for enabling me to give what I can, and hope that enough other lawyers volunteer to help the many other immigrants in detention who desperately need their help. I’d be happy to talk with anyone who might want to know what’s involved. Thank you for this volunteer celebration!