“First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who made the Valerie Zukin Memorial Fellowship possible. To the donors, the host organizations, and Valerie’s family, thank you for continuing Valerie’s vision of mentoring and empowering future immigration attorneys. I can’t imagine a better way to honor her.

I am a 3L law student and I am also a DOJ fully accredited representative at the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. This summer legal fellowship with Immigrant Legal Defense (ILD) allowed me to work on a detained removal defense case. I was able to work on every aspect of our client’s case: writing motions, researching country conditions, preparing the experts, and representing our client in his merits trial. To finally see all of the work come to fruition the day of the merits hearing is still surreal to me.

One of my favorite parts of this experience was connecting with our client and being able to help him tell his story. It is infuriating how the system failed him time and time again. I know that these injustices are not uncommon, and although it’s just one factor that makes removal cases so complex, it really reinforced that removal defense is where I am meant to be.

Our client, an LGBTQ+ individual seeking protection from Mexico, has been held in immigration detention fighting for his life and freedom for more than 4 years. Just another victim of the well-oiled deportation machine, who would have fallen through the cracks once again had it not been for ILD and this fellowship. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the attorneys at ILD, who took on his appeal of the immigration judge’s denial of protection, our client has a fighting chance to finally live his true authentic self, something that he has been deprived of his entire life. I worked with our client primary by phone due to the remote location of his detention center, but we met with him in person right before the final hearing. In working with our client, I was immediately struck by the horrific impact of detention and a life of abuse – the fear our client had in speaking about his story was palpable. Having the chance to work with him and seeing him gain trust in knowing that for the first time he had people committed to standing with him so that he could tell his true story was an incredible experience.

The toughest part for me came after the merits hearing: Closing briefs. Connecting with clients has always come naturally to me. Legal briefs on the other hand are my kryptonite. I have always second-guessed my writing skills. Imposter syndrome if you will but having such knowledgeable and fierce mentors providing me feedback at every phase was an invaluable part of this experience. From working with me to increase my confidence in my legal writing to sitting in court during direct and cross exam, where we were ferociously passing notes to each other, we were in it together. I hope to represent many more clients in removal proceedings, and I have added a shadow box to my office with some of the notes we shared during our client’s hearing as a reminder that removal defense is at its best when done collectively, fiercely and creatively.”