“Serving as a Valerie Zukin Memorial Fellow at Immigrant Legal Defense (ILD) this summer brought my reasons for pursuing immigration law into sharper focus. I began the summer with a personal understanding of what immigration detention can take from a family. By the end of the summer, I better understood the persistence, preparation, and compassionate advocacy required to challenge the immigration detention system. Being part of a team defending a detained client and ultimately seeing him released and reunited with his family, made this fellowship one of the most meaningful experiences of my legal education.

This summer, under the close supervision of ILD’s managing attorney team, I worked on the removal defense case of a detained Mexican national. I worked with him every week, and over time, I came to understand not only the legal issues in his case but also the person and family behind him. His detention affected every part of his life, including his health, his emotional well-being, and ability to be present for the family members who depended on him.

I had the opportunity to participate in nearly every stage of preparing his defense. I reviewed records, researched legal issues, drafted motions and declarations, gathered evidence, and helped prepare witnesses. Because the stakes were so high, the work was challenging. However, I was fortunate to work with ILD attorneys who trusted me with these responsibilities while providing the mentorship and support I needed to learn and grow.

The most meaningful moment of the fellowship came when the immigration court terminated our client’s removal proceedings. After months of detention and uncertainty, he was released and reunited with his family. Knowing that he was finally able to walk out of detention and return home is something I will never forget. Having once waited for my own mother to come home from immigration detention, it is difficult to put into words what it meant to help make that reunion possible for another family.

As I enter my third year at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU, I am excited to be part of the immigration clinic this semester, where I will apply and build on the knowledge and skills I gained at ILD. The Valerie Zukin Memorial Fellowship allowed me to help to give another family the homecoming that my own family once desperately awaited. I am deeply honored to have contributed to Valerie’s legacy through work that protects immigrants and keeps families together. I will carry the lessons from this fellowship, as well as the joy of knowing our client is reunited with his family, throughout the rest of law school and into my career as an immigration attorney.”