March 2019 Dean’s Corner - Immigration Law in the Trenches

by Allen K. Easley

It is no surprise that law school immigration clinics proliferate in Southern California, which is the epicenter of an ongoing legal battle between ICE and other government entities and immigration lawyers and law students committed to assuring that the rights of those adversely impacted by our immigration system are protected.

At Western State College of Law, the students who participate in our Immigration Clinic acquire invaluable lawyering skills that will benefit them, no matter where they end up practicing after graduation, while helping real clients who are facing enormous challenges that threaten their lives and their families.

A number of the clients served by our students are individuals seeking asylum in the United States due to the threat of persecution in their home countries. The reasons for persecution range from sexual and ethnic identity to domestic violence to the refusal to assist hostile governments in the persecution of others.

Many of these clients are in immigration custody, which often makes efforts by these individuals to seek effective legal representation much more difficult. No right to government-appointed counsel for detained immigrants exists, although studies have shown that having a lawyer can increase an individual’s chances of success by anywhere from five to eleven times. Even with an attorney, access to justice problems persist. In fact, one of the clinic’s recent clients was a lead plaintiff in a class action suit filed against ICE and other entities challenging the barriers to attorney access to and communication with immigration detainees at three Southern California detention facilities.

Immigration cases present complex challenges for our students. They work with fact witnesses who often live outside the United States, with expert witnesses, and they address the numerous challenges facing their clients, including mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder. They do so while navigating a complex administrative law system and its integration into the federal court system.

Every year, a team of Western State clinic students, as part of our Ninth Circuit Project, take on a case that is on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. This fall, our students helped prepare a 14,000-word opening brief in a case involving a number of issues, including domestic violence and alcohol abuse, statutory interpretation, asylum, female genital mutilation, substantive evidence standards, and a host of other immigration, human rights, administrative law, and constitutional law issues. In the spring semester, the students will help prepare a reply brief and then present oral arguments before a panel of the court.

Two of our students have been representing a class member in another class action, Hamama v. Adducci, brought on behalf of Iraqi nationals facing final orders of removal. This case has attracted national media attention, in part due to discovery findings that the Department of Homeland Security had misrepresented the extent of its ability to return Iraqi nationals to Iraq and repeatedly failed to comply with court orders. Our students have pending before the Immigration Court a motion to reopen a decades-old deportation order based on changes in conditions in Iraq since the order was entered. This case, like so many others, highlights the importance of having legal representation by individuals who understand the intricacies of the immigration and deportation process, and the helplessness felt by individuals in detention who lack access to legal counsel.

Our students also work to broaden the knowledge base and understanding of issues facing the immigrant community by, for example, delivering community presentations addressing how immigrant families can prepare for the possibility of detention and deportation, particularly when young children are involved. Most recently, clinic faculty and students traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to volunteer with the nonprofit Al Otro Lado to provide critical legal services to migrants and asylum-seekers.

All of these efforts by our clinic students can only begin to address some of the needs of immigrants in detention and facing deportation. But our students make a difference in the lives of real people. It is an amazing growth experience for students, and one that will add immeasurably to their growth as attorneys, no matter where their practice takes them.

Allen K. Easley is Dean of Western State College of Law. He can be reached at aeasley@wsulaw.edu.