Broward attorney skipped client deportation hearing, filing asylum paperwork
Despite being the attorney of record for two detainees at the Krome detention center, a Plantation immigration lawyer didn’t show up for asylum hearing of one and didn’t timely file asylum paperwork for the other.
Joan Powers admits that she didn’t do much of anything on either man’s case.
That inaction drew a 20-day suspension by the state Supreme Court, a professional timeout that will begin Dec. 13. This is the first professional discipline against Powers, the name partner of Powers & Associates, since becoming a Florida Bar member in 1985.
Plight of a Hunter
According to Powers’ admission in a guilty plea for consent judgment, she was hired to represent Krome detainee Ewan Hunter in May 2019. On her notice of entry, she noted she would be representing Hunter for “all proceedings.”
But “after Hunter was released from Krome in April 2020, [Powers] failed to take any further action in his immigration case,” her guilty plea said. “All notices regarding Hunter’s case were sent to [Powers] as his attorney. [Powers] never filed a motion to withdraw in the case and was listed as Hunter’s attorney throughout the immigration proceedings.”
Those proceedings reached a removal hearing in March 2024. Powers didn’t tell Hunter about it. She was a no-show. So was he.
“Based on his failure to appear, an order of removal was entered against Hunter,” Powers’ guilty plea said. “After the order of removal was entered, Hunter hired subsequent counsel.”
The lost year
As with Hunter, Powers’ March 2023 notice of appearance for Luis Camuendo stated she would handle “all proceedings.” That would include the petition for asylum that Camuendo would need to file within one year of his release from the Krome detention center.
“After his release, [Powers] and her office began communicating exclusively with the client’s daughter,” Powers’ guilty plea stated. “In October and November 2023, [Powers’] office sent emails stating that if (she) was not retained to file the asylum petition, she would be forced to withdraw.”
But Powers didn’t withdraw. Nor did she do anything with Camuendo’s case.
“The asylum petition was not filed by the one-year deadline,” Powers’ guilty plea said. “Camuendo was forced to retain new counsel.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
