Lawyers for some of the 31 suspected illegal immigrants arrested at Rhode Island courthouses last month say they are seeking political asylum or other legal relief to keep their clients from being deported.

The lawyers acknowledge a difficult — but not impossible — fight ahead.

“I’m hopeful, but realistic,” said Alison Foley, a Providence attorney who is overseeing a number of pro bono cases stemming from the arrests.

“I’ve made this clear to my clients that it’s an uphill battle,” said Foley, “and once in the system, the most likely outcome will be that they have to leave the country.” A federal investigation, based on a tip that a worker was using a courthouse copier to create fraudulent identification, led to the simultaneous sweeps at six courthouses. State police assisted U.S. Customs Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during those raids.

ICE agents arrested the janitors — from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico — July 15 and detained them on administrative charges of being in the country illegally. Four of those arrested were criminally charged last week by federal authorities with document fraud.

All of the suspected illegal immigrants worked for either Tristate Enterprises or Falcon Maintenance, which had contracts to clean more than four dozen state buildings, including the courthouses, the University of Rhode Island campus and the main administration building at One Capitol Hill. Following the arrests, Governor Carcieri’s administration terminated the contracts for state buildings, but the courts continue to use both companies.

Meanwhile, lawyers are moving forward with the workers’ immigration cases. They are relying, in part, on experience gained after last year’s raid on the Michael Bianco Inc. factory in New Bedford during which the owner, top manager and more than 300 workers were arrested.

As in the Bianco case, lawyers have spent weeks trying to locate some of the courthouse detainees — in part because ICE policy blocks release of their names, and because ICE often moves detainees from one facility to another for what it says are bed-space reasons.

That search appears to be over, according to Foley and lawyers from Greater Boston Legal Services, who are handling most of the cases, on a pro-bono basis. Several private attorneys are also involved.

The 19 people who were initially detained at federal detention facilities are all believed to have been released on bond, Foley said. ICE released the 12 others on humanitarian grounds after the arrests.

“Now it’s a question of going on with what relief they have available,” said Foley. The cases are at various stages. Many, but not all, have September hearing dates before federal immigration judges in Boston, she said. No one has been deported.

Foley said last week that most detainees “have some claim to political asylum” because circumstances in their home countries could put them at risk of harm or death if they return.

Others may qualify for cancellation of removal orders if they have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years and can prove that their departure would cause “extreme and unusual hardship” for spouses, children or parents left behind, she said. One woman is seeking permanent residency.

Foley called “inhumane” the fact that families are often disrupted by these circumstances.

John Willshire-Carrera, senior attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, said that agency is representing 4 of the 31 workers, one of whom appears to have a claim for asylum.

“Somebody would have a claim [for asylum] if they’ve been harmed very severely in the past on account of political opinion, race, nationality, or religion,” he said. That would also apply to those who could face harm or death upon return to their country.

Willshire-Carrera said in general, many Guatemalans “suffered severely as children, and to this day there is a lot of violence, and in fact, increasing in Guatemala … If they go home, they could face significant risk.”

Sarah Ignatius, executive director of the PAIR Project (The Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project) in Boston, said eight Rhode Island workers have been assisted by the National Immigrant Bond Fund, an outgrowth of a fund established by Boston financier Robert J. Hildreth to help Bianco detainees. Ignatius serves as chairwoman and as a member of the fund’s steering committee.

“It’s [the fund] already had a dramatic effect in various places around the country in ensuring people actually get their day in court, and are able to appear and get their due process rights to which they are entitled in immigration court,” Ignatius said.

In the Rhode Island courthouse cases, “the community has contributed exactly half” of the $25,500 total bond; the National Immigrant Bond fund contributed the matching $12,750.

Requiring that families post half the bond “ensures that they are invested and [the workers] will go to immigration court,” Ignatius said.

John Ruginski Jr., a Providence lawyer and one of several private attorneys handling courthouse cases, said his client availed himself of that bond fund and was quickly released.

The client, who is 27, will press a claim for cancellation of deportation, based on “extreme and unusual hardship.” Said Ruginski, “He has been here over 10 years and has a child who is a U.S. citizen. The baby is a little over 3 years old.”

Ruginski said he advised his client, “This is, in no shape or manner, a guaranteed thing. You have to prove your case.”

His client has apparently never been in criminal trouble, has maintained steady employment and filed income tax, and pays his bills.

Ruginski added, “He also has a right to apply for employment authorization, which would not legalize his position here but the right to work while this case is pending.”

kziner@projo.com