Dechert Secures Victory in Significant Pro Bono Immigration Case
On September 1, 2021, Dechert LLP and nonprofit partners Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center and Justice at Work achieved a significant pro bono victory in a high-stakes immigration case involving an asylum-seeker from Cameroon. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has unanimously vacated the previous decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Our client, known as B.C., speaks “Cameroon Pidgin English” (a language separate and distinct from Standard English) as his primary language, creating a barrier to reliable communication between his language and Standard English. Despite this, B.C. was never afforded the assistance of an interpreter by the immigration court, nor officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the asylum officer from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS). Notably, the Immigration Judge who presided over the hearing failed to recognize the difference between the languages.
Dechert partner Sozi Tulante, who argued the appeal, commented: “We are gratified with today’s decision. In a precedential decision, the Third Circuit has unanimously recognized that the Immigration Judge’s failure to even assess whether our client, B.C., needed an interpreter and to remedy obvious language barriers violated his right to due process. As we showed, these failures resulted in a fundamentally unfair proceeding in which he could not fully participate or advocate for himself in Pidgin English, his best language. The facts of our case are not unique and we hope that this ruling will result in immigration proceedings that accord with due process. We are proud of B.C., and extol his courage, advocacy, and resilience; we look forward to proceeding on remand so that he can establish his entitlement to remain in the United States. This case exemplifies the partnership among the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, Justice at Work, Dechert LLP (B.C.’s pro bono appellate counsel), and amicus counsel to achieve a compelling result.”
Dechert was also recently ranked by The American Lawyer as #1 for international pro bono work for the fifth time.
About Dechert
Dechert is a leading global law firm with 22 offices around the world. We advise on matters and transactions of the greatest complexity, bringing energy, creativity and efficient management of legal issues to deliver commercial and practical advice for clients.
