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these defendants, the stages of a federal criminal court case that normally could take
months or even years are truncated into a single day.
All defendants are appointed a defense lawyer, but the amount of time they spend with
their attorney before they plead guilty may be as little as 5 to 10 minutes. 77 Each lawyer,
depending on the district, may be assigned 6 clients, several dozen, or over 100 per
Streamline proceeding. Brenda Sandoval, an assistant federal defender in Yuma, Arizona,
reported that she was recently assigned 107 clients. With the assistance of a colleague
who offered to cover 20 of the cases, she ended up representing 87. 78
For the vast majority of defendants whom Border Patrol apprehends along the border,
there are few defenses to the charge that they entered or reentered the country without US
government consent. But the defenses that do exist—such as acquired or derivative
citizenship 79 and a prior wrongful removal order—require considerable investigation.
Firdaus Dordi, who has no Streamline clients as a federal public defender in Los Angeles,
said he normally reserves at least two hours for his first meeting with his clients, and that
sometimes just going through a client’s immigration file (the “A” file) and initial research
can take three to four hours. If he does find a defense, investigation can sometimes take
months. 80 At a minimum, a criminal defense attorney would have to ask questions about
where a client’s parents and grandparents were born, to determine whether there may be a
claim to citizenship. But several migrants who had recently been deported after serving a
Streamline sentence reported to Human Rights Watch that their attorneys asked no
questions about their families. 81 A recent study by the University of Arizona Center for Latin
American Studies found that only 40 percent of defendants said their lawyers had
mentioned basic legal rights, and only 1 percent said their lawyers had inquired into family
77 Human Rights Watch interviews with recently deported migrants, Nogales, Mexico, April 4 and 5, 2013; and with Ricardo
Calderon, criminal defense attorney, Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2012.
78 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Brenda Sandoval, February 7, 2013.
79 Persons who are born outside the United States can gain citizenship through their parents in certain circumstances. To
determine whether an individual is a US citizen, several facts and issues must be investigated and proven, including, but not
limited to, the laws in effect at the time of the individual’s birth, the citizenship of the individual’s parents or grandparents,
the amount of time the individual’s US citizen parent spent in the United States, and whether or not the individual’s parents
were married. US Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Citizenship Through Parents,” last updated January 22, 2013,
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextchannel=32dffe9dd4aa3
210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextoid=32dffe9dd4aa3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD (accessed April 25, 2013).
80 Human Rights Watch interviews with Firdaus Dordi, August 30, 2012 and January 24, 2013.
81 Human Rights Watch interviews with recently deported migrants, Nogales, Mexico, April 4 and 5, 2013.
37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2013