On April 13, the United States District Court in Rhode Island issued a general order allowing out-of-state attorneys to represent clients filing habeas corpus petitions — which challenge federal detentions — on a pro bono basis for the next year.
As of April 15, habeas corpus petitions made up 32.2% of all civil cases filed in the state in 2026, according to Frank Perry, the chief deputy clerk for the R.I. federal court. Of the 67 habeas corpus petitions filed in 2026, 59 were immigration-related — the same number filed throughout 2025
In 2025, habeas corpus petitions made up 9.7% of civil cases — an increase from 2.4% in 2023 and 2024.
The order follows a request filed to the court by three organizations — the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, the Habeas Project of New England and Mass Deportation Defense — on March 30. The request asked the judges to “temporarily suspend” the requirement for attorneys filing pro bono habeas corpus petitions to be members of the Bar of the R.I. federal court.
A general order from Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. ’80 granted the request, citing “exceptional circumstances” from increased habeas corpus petitions to justify the decision. The out-of-state attorneys must be in good standing with the bar of at least one federal or state court, among other requirements. The court may choose to extend the order past one year in the event that “exceptional circumstances” continue to exist.
McConnell’s order can facilitate “more efficient access to representation,” Perry wrote in an email to The Herald.
Immigration-related litigation often crosses state lines throughout New England. According to Amy Romero, the chief legal counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for R.I., Wyatt Detention Center is the only detention center in Rhode Island. The center houses detainees from states such as Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
Up until the general order was issued, some out-of-state attorneys had to reach out to R.I. organizations for assistance in representing their clients who have been detained in Rhode Island.
Cindy Salazar, an immigration attorney based in Pawtucket but licensed in Massachusetts, told The Herald that she currently has 6,000 active clients. Due to her out-of-state license, Salazar has been “forced to rely on” the help of organizations such as the Lawyers’ Committee for R.I. in managing and filing her habeas petitions.
“We get requests for habeas every single day,” Romero told The Herald. “We say (the caseload is) unprecedented, but that doesn’t really do it justice.”
Romero said that her organization aims to represent detainees “regardless of where they live.”
While Salazar described the role of the Lawyers’ Committee for R.I. as “essential,” she also noted the burden that falls upon out-of-state attorneys when handing off their clients to R.I. attorneys who might be less familiar with their cases.
“Some of these clients have been with us for 10, 12, years,” Salazar said. Trying to summarize those long-term cases in “a phone conversation of 30 to 45 minutes is really an injustice.”
This court order “helps us to continue to really represent our own clients that we’ve already been representing,” she added.
Romero noted that she has already received correspondence from other advocates across the United States hoping to gain similar orders from their own courts.
“(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is moving people across the country, and they’re moving them to places where it’s very hard for them to get pro bono immigration help,” she said. “These sorts of court orders help counter that.”
ICE did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
Even in the face of increasing detainments, Salazar said they are hopeful.
“The more litigation we have, the more eyes we have on the problem, the more that we’re going to come closer to a solution,” Salazar said.
Michelle Bi is a metro editor covering City Hall & Crime and State Politics & Justice. She is a sophomore from Oak Park, CA and studies English and IAPA. In her free time, you can find her playing guitar, the LA Times crossword or one of her 115 Spotify playlists.
