An Open Letter to Congress: Stop Requiring a Wet Signature From Detained Clients

An Open Letter to Congress

This post reflects the author’s personal views and is not legal advice.

Dear Congress,

Please stop requiring a wet signature from detained clients before you will accept a privacy release.

Last month, a client called to ask me to represent him at his interview. That is exactly what he was supposed to do. I am his attorney. The problem was that the asylum officer told me they needed his wet signature on a Form G-28 to confirm that I represented him. I did not have one, and I explained that getting one was nearly impossible, because my client was in detention.

I truly believe the officer did not understand what we were up against. When we finally reached a representative on the phone, they explained that helping us obtain a signature was “not a service they offered.” A service. Apparently a signature is a privilege now.

This is not a one-off. Getting signatures from detained clients lights up attorney group chats across the country every single night. Some detention centers are reasonable. Some deny us outright. Some put up so many barriers that we eventually throw up our hands and ask why we just spent twenty hours coordinating with eight different entities for a single signature.

I wish I were exaggerating. I am not. I am not the only attorney who wanted to throw a laptop across the room tonight when yet another congressional office said it could not open an inquiry without a wet signature on a privacy release. When I asked whether the client’s partner could sign, or whether I could submit a recording of him giving consent, the answer was no.

Respectfully, your offices are so removed from how broken this system has become that it makes me want to cry. This is death by a thousand cuts: policies that shift without notice, numbers that drop, and a circular passing of responsibility that ends in hours of wasted labor for nothing.

Here is something worth remembering. You do not serve only citizens. You serve everyone who lives in your district, and right now they need you. So please, change this policy. It is a very small ask, and I hope it does not fall on deaf ears. I am tired of fighting ICE at every level. I should not have to fight the legislative branch too.

I know you are trying. I respect the effort, and I see it. But I cannot respect a policy that leaves detained people with no workable way to sign a form. There is no reason a detained client should not have a viable alternative, whether that is verified electronic consent, recorded verbal consent, or authorization through a designated representative.

That is all I am asking for. A workable alternative.

Respectfully,

An exhausted immigration attorney, asking for crumbs instead of bread.

Victoria Slatton is a former USCIS Asylum Officer and the Managing Partner of Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates. This post reflects her personal views and is not legal advice.