"For more than three decades, Robert Vitaglione never turned down a client, representing thousands of immigrants in New York’s overburdened federal immigration courts. But he is not a lawyer. He is a Roman Catholic priest without formal legal training or supervision — and it showed.
Disheveled and disorganized, Father Vitaglione sometimes jeopardized cases with his erratic behavior, according to a federal finding. His legal briefs included a blizzard of fonts and asides — “Deportation = Death” was written in bold in one.
In May, court administrators had enough, barring Father Vitaglione from handling cases. But if anything, that only deepened the disarray. Lawyers and advocates had to hold emergency meetings to figure out how to pick up his pending cases, clean up bungled ones, and find representation for untold immigrants."
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