"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, Music, Politics, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals Paul Wickham Schmidt and Dr. Alicia Triche, expert brief writer, practical scholar, emeritus Editor-in-Chief of The Green Card (FBA), and 2022 Federal Bar Association Immigration Section Lawyer of the Year. She is a/k/a “Delta Ondine,” a blues-based alt-rock singer-songwriter, who performs regularly in Memphis, where she hosts her own Blues Brunch series, and will soon be recording her first full, professional album. Stay tuned! 🎶 To see our complete professional bios, just click on the link below.
Here’s a report on the night’s activities from AYUDAS’s amazing Executive Director Paula Fitzgerald:
Dear Friends,
I hope you enjoyed our screening of The Courtroom as much as I did. The panel discussion connected us back to Ayuda’s mission and the greatest challenges our clients face as they navigate the legal system in an unfamiliar language.
I want to give a big thanks some special supporters who make this evening possible:
A special thank you to Georgetown University’s Community Engagement Manager and Ayuda’s Advisory Board Member, Erick Castro, for coordinating this reception and film screening, as well as Georgetown University for hosting this event in their new Capitol Campus building.
We’re honored to have had Waterwell Productions with us, specifically Co-Founder & Board Chair Arian Moayed and Managing Director Sarah Scafidi. Thank you for sharing this powerful story with Ayuda’s community.
Thank you to the Honorable Paul Schmidt for helping us bring The Courtroom to DC and sharing your connection to the film.
A moment of appreciation for our stellar panelists, Edgar and Marilyn, and wonderful moderator, Sandra. Thank you all for closing out the evening with an engaging conversation.
A warm round of applause to each of you for joining us. It was truly a delightful evening and I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to connect with many of you.
Are you interested in learning more about Ayuda’s advocacy program? Email us at advocacy@ayuda.com. Are you interested in volunteering? Check out our volunteer portal for current opportunities. Are you interested in making a gift to support Ayuda’s mission? Visit our website or email us atdevelopment@ayuda.com.
AYUDA/GEORGETOWN “THE COURTROOM”
Warm regards,
Paula Fitzgerald
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Here’s the text of my opening remarks:
Ayuda’s Film Screening of The Courtroom – Opening Remarks by Paul Wickham Schmidt
Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy
September 18, 2024
Good evening and welcome everyone! Thanks for coming out to support Georgetown’s partnership with Ayuda.
My name is Paul Wickham Schmidt, and I’ve been given the privilege to introduce this powerful film, The Courtroom. Before I introduce a special guest, who is no stranger to the film and silver screen, I would like to share why this story is so important to me. My experience has landed me in an interesting corner of many of tonight’s themes and key players in making this event possible.
I was appointed as a federal immigration judge and served for 21 years, at both the trial and appellate levels. During my time as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law, I’ve written extensively about immigration law. And, I’m currently a proud Advisory Board member for Ayuda, an organization that I truly care about and has deep roots in this community.
In fact, Ayuda helped all of us during my tenure in the “Legacy” Arlington Immigration Court with their superior pro bono representation. You will witness this evening the critical, life-saving and future-determining, role played by great legal representation in Immigration Court.
And, if you don’t already know, you will be astounded to learn that in Immigration Court individuals, including infants and toddlers, face trial for their lives without the right to appointed counsel! I want you to imagine how this case might have come out if this individual had been required to represent herself throughout her various legal proceedings. Yet, that is the predicament in which far, far too many individuals now find themselves.
I just read a TRAC Syracuse report that fewer than 15% of those ordered deported in Immigration Court in August 2024 were represented. I find that appalling! It’s actually a regressive trend since I left the bench. That’s why the role played by organizations like Ayuda and the teaching function of the CALS Asylum Clinic here at Georgetown Law are so completely essential to American Justice at what I call the “retail level.”
Now, I’m not here to read my resume. Instead, I will share why The Courtroom holds so much significance for us. The late film critic Roger Ebert once said, “the movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” The classic legal dramas like “12 Angry Men,” or “To Kill A Mockingbird,” for example, give us great insight into the devastating experience of being tried for a crime one did not commit.
But never had I seen a filmmaker put the empathy machine to work in Immigration Court. That is, until I learned about The Courtroom from my friend and colleague retired Immigration Judge Jeffrey S. Chase of New York. He actually served as an informal advisor on the production and played an important “cameo role” in the earlier award-winning stage versions of The Courtroom, as did other of our retired judicial colleagues.
Many of us will be fortunate enough never to have to endure a removal proceeding as a subject ourselves. We will never understand what it’s like to face the fear of being separated from our children, our families, our jobs, and our communities: In the words of the Supreme Court “all that makes life worth living!” (Ng Fung Ho v. White | 259 U.S. 276 (1922)).
The film you’re about to watch tells one woman’s story confronting these terrors, with the utmost compassion. The “script” is a verbatim transcript of an actual immigration case, brought to life by the great actors, directors, and producers at Waterwell.
When the credits roll, I hope you’ll remember that The Courtroom is much more than a story. It’s real-life drama, “living theater” as I used to describe it to my Georgetown Law students – and right now, more than 3 million immigrants undergoing deportation proceedings are living it, along with their families, friends, co-workers, and other community members whom they interact with on a daily basis.
It’s with great honor that I get the opportunity to introduce our next speaker. He’s an actor, director, and the screenplay writer of our feature presentation. He has received two Tony Award nominations and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and you might recognize him from Marvel Cinematic Universe. Please give a warm round of applause for Waterwell Co-Founder, Arian Moayed!
Arian, I really, really appreciate your taking time out of your hectic schedule to be with us tonight for this important D.C. Area premiere!
I am featured in the attached “20 Stories for 20 Years” video for Waterwell’s 20th anniversary with Kristin Villanueva, the star of the play and film versions of “The Courtroom.”
Waterwell is the theater company co-founded by the actor Arian Moayed that has been a great advocate on behalf of immigrants.
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Congrats, my friend and Round Table colleague, to you and to Waterwell!👏
Come to think of it, “Sir Jeffrey” is a pretty good moniker for an actor, as well as a leading warrior of the Round Table!🛡️⚔️
And, certainly, Immigration Court is a continuing human drama. Some would say “Repertory Theater of the Absurd!”🎭🤯
Retired Judge Jeffrey S. Chase, leader of our “Roundtable of Former Immigration Judges” reports:
Waterwell’s wonderful play The Courtroom, in which the script is an actual transcript of an immigration court hearing, and in which three of us (Betty Lamb, Terry Bain, and myself) so far have acted along with stars of Broadway, TV, and film, was named today by the New York Times to its “Best Theater of 2019” list!
Waterwell plans to hold a performance a month through next September or so, so if you are coming to NYC, you can still see it (or maybe act in it!)
BTW, the role played by some of us was the judge performing the naturalization ceremony at the end of the play, in which the entire audience stands and takes the oath. The best anecdote I have heard so far was after a performance at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where a non-citizen audience member asked a member of the Waterwell staff if that was a real judge performing the scene. When told yes, it was, the audience member replied “Well, then I guess I’m a U.S. citizen now!”
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Here’s the link to theNY Times and the summary of “The Courtroom” by Laura Collins-Hughes:
One of the most heart-gripping shows of the year could hardly be simpler: It’s not even a full production, just a staged reading of trial transcripts.
Michael Braun and Kristin Villanueva in “The Courtroom.”Credit…Maria Baranova
In Waterwell’s “The Courtroom,” the accused is an immigrant in danger of deportation, her unassuming American life at risk of being torn apart over a mistake she insists was innocent. The sneaky thing about this riveting re-enactment, though, is that in watching it, we citizens are on trial, too. What kind of a nation are we? How cruel have we permitted ourselves to be?
That work, recently returned for monthly site-specific performances around New York, is part of 2019’s thrillingly vital bumper crop of political theater — shows that implicate the audience with bracing artistry.
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Some of you have probably heard me say that being an Immigration Judge was “half scholar, half performing artist.”
Congrats to Waterwell and to “Roundtable Drama Stars” Retired Judges Jeffrey S. Chase, Betty Lamb, and Terry Bain, all formerly of the NY Immigration Court. Proud of you guys! There are so many ways in which our Roundtable contributes to the New Due Process Army’s daily battle to restore Due Process and save our democracy, beyond filing amicus briefs throughout the country (which we do almost every week, with lots of pro bono help from our talented friends at many law firms)!
Many of those contributions are through the arts. SeeJudge Polly Webber and her triptych “Refugee Dilemma” fiber artwork, which has received national acclaim and recognition. https://wp.me/p8eeJm-48d As I said just today in an earlier blog about the disturbingly poor and tone deaf performance by three life-tenured judges of the 11th Circuit, this really is not about different legal views any more. https://wp.me/p8eeJm-4RO
It’s a moral and ethical battle to preserve our democracy and its commitment to humanity from the forces of evil, racism, xenophobia, misogyny, authoritarianism, corruption, and White Nationalism that threaten to destroy it.It so happens that courtrooms are among the most visible battlegrounds. But, it goes far beyond that – to the very fabric of our society and our values — to our very humanity and how we view our fellow human beings.
That’s why complicit judges are so dangerous to the system. As with “Jim Crow,” there is only one “right side of history” here! We deserve better performance from America’s judges, particularly those with Article III protections!
As Laura so cogently said in her review:
[W]e citizens are on trial, too. What kind of a nation are we? How cruel have we permitted ourselves to be?
“The Courtroom” should be required viewing for every judge, law professor, judicial law clerk, law student, legislator, congressional staff member, and immigration bureaucrat in America!
Feb 10 All The World’s A Stage (including the 2d Cir.!)
“How did we get here? How the hell…
Pan left – close on the steeple of the church.”
Jonathan Larson, “Halloween,” from Rent
The above lines popped into my head as I sat in an ice-cold dressing room in the basement of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village just prior to curtain for the final performance of the world premiere run of Waterwell’s play The Courtroom. I was performing the role of the judge in the final scene who conducts a naturalization ceremony in which the journey of the protagonist, Elizabeth Keathley, through the immigration system ends with her becoming a U.S. citizen. The castwas comprised of stars of stage and screen, including a Tony Award winner, and a Tony nominee and Obie, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle winner. “How did I get here?”
The Courtroomis the result of the inspired vision of Waterwell’s co-founder, Arian Moayed, himself a Tony-nominated Broadway actor who currently plays Stewie on the HBO hit Succession. A civic-minded theater company, Waterwell has staged musicals written during WW II aboard The Intrepid with a cast of actors and veterans, and a bilingual Farsi-English production of Hamlet set in 1918 Tehran. (Waterwell also runs an incredible educational program with New York City High School students, and its film division produces the Emmy-nominated web series The Accidental Wolf.)
An immigrant himself, Arian was moved by his own family history to respond to the present immigration climate, and took the unorthodox approach of seeking out actual immigration court transcripts to serve as the script. The production’s wonderful associate producer, Madelyn Murphy, quickly connected with Chicago immigration attorney Richard Hanus. He suggested the case of Elizabeth Keathley, whose path to a green card based on her marriage to a U.S. citizen was put in jeopardy over an innocent mistake regarding voter registration while applying for a driver’s license. Years later, Elizabeth prevailed on appeal to the 7th Cir. Court of Appeals in Keathley v. Holder, when Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook was persuaded by Hanus’s argument that the criminal common-law defense of entrapment by estoppel should apply in the immigration law context.
The script for the first act of The Courtroomis the verbatim transcript of Ms. Keathley’s immigration court proceedings in 2008. The script for the second act is the verbatim oral argument before the 7th Cir. and the panel’s written decision. So instead of a piece written by a playwright seeking to make a statement about our immigration system, one case plucked from that system was allowed to speak for itself. I had the pleasure of attending the first table read-through at Waterwell’s Manhattan offices. I remember Arian asking “Will this work as drama?” but he had a strong feeling that it would, and his instincts proved right.
What I found compelling about the case was that everyone involved in the immigration court hearing was respectful, professional, and thoughtful. After witnessing the complete immigration court hearing, the audience does not feel animosity towards the judge or ICE attorney. Nevertheless, the wrong result was reached. To me, an important theme is that of faith in an imperfect system – and not only the faith of the protagonist and her loving husband who are unexpectedly caught in a system they don’t understand, or of the brilliant lawyer who perseveres knowing that the correctness of his argument is no guarantee of a satisfying outcome. It also speaks to the faith that our justice system requires from society, a point I touched on in my stage remarks.
Waterwell’s managing director, Adam Frank, came up with the idea for a third act portraying Elizabeth’s naturalization ceremony. Adam told me the idea was inspired by his hearing Arian speak emotionally about his own naturalization, an experience that native-born Americans never have. So in the last act, the entire audience is naturalized. The role of the judge in that last scene was played by actual judges. My fellow former immigration judge, Betty Lamb, sitting immigration judge Mimi Tsankov, Magistrate Judge Sanket J. Bulsara of the Eastern District of New York, and myself took turns playing the role. And each of us were allowed to write our own remarks following the oath. This imbued each performance with a personalized view of the process in the words of actual judges who have performed these ceremonies in real life. My remarks are copied below.
I was first invited to perform at one of the two performances held inside the main courtroom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse in lower Manhattan. (Other performances were held at Fordham Law School, St. Mark’s Church in the East Village, and Judson Church). For the courthouse performances, audience members had to have their names on a list, go through security, and check their cell phones at the door. I still can’t believe that I was fortunate enough to perform on the stage of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, a once in a lifetime experience. The courtroom held an energy unlike any of the other venues. The setting created the sense of watching an actual hearing in a real courtroom, without the usual sense of separation when sitting in the audience watching a play on a stage. As one of the actors pointed out, in the courtroom performances, when he read the line “please rise,” the whole audience rose to its feet without hesitation.
Ruthie Ann Miles, Kathleen Chalfant, Happy Anderson, Kristin Villanueva, Linda Powell, Michael Braun, Michael Bryan French, Mick Hilgers, and Hanna Cheek comprised the brilliant cast. Lee Sunday Evans’ inspired direction had to contend not only with the unorthodox nature of the script, but with the constantly changing layouts and acoustics over the four different venues. In the hands of these outstanding professionals, it all worked beautifully.
The real-life Keathleys and Richard Hanus traveled to New York and attended two of the performances, sitting in the audience just a few rows behind the actors portraying them.
I was left in awe of the talent and dedication of all involved; it was also without exception the warmest, kindest group of individuals I have ever had the privilege to be involved with. Thanks to all of them for briefly welcoming me into their world. Hereis a link to a New York Times’ article about the play.
My remarks from the naturalization ceremony:
“It is my great honor and pleasure to congratulate you all and address you for the first time as fellow citizens of the United States. Performing these ceremonies is undoubtedly the best part of my job. Judges have a number of powers, but none is greater or more humbling than the act we just performed together. Just a few minutes ago, you were citizens of many different countries. But by raising your hands and repeating an oath, you all instantly, almost magically, became citizens of the United States. To fully comprehend the significance of this, think back to the first time you ever heard of this country – maybe from a book or in a movie, or through a family friend or relative who was visiting from America. Imagine if you were told at that moment that you would be standing here today as an American citizen. Hopefully, that memory will capture the wonder of this great ceremony.
For some of you, the path to U.S. citizenship may have been short and without incident; others might have traveled a longer, more difficult road to arrive here today. Regardless, you should all be congratulated on reaching this most important milestone.
You should not feel a sense of loss today. American citizenship does not erase your past; to the contrary, it simply adds a new dimension to who you already are. We are a country of hyphenated Americans. Whether we are Mexican-American, African-American, Iranian-American, or Filipino-American, we should all wear our heritage as a source of pride, as the culture, thoughts and traditions that we bring to the American experience makes all of us richer.
There are of course responsibilities that come with citizenship. I’m going to mention two such responsibilities today. First, you have the responsibility to perform jury duty if called upon to do so. In a democracy, faith in our judicial institutions is paramount. However, our courts will not always reach the right result. But society will abide by judicial outcomes that they disagree with if they believe that the result was reached impartially by people who were genuinely trying to get it right. Abiding by judicial decisions is a key to democracy. It is what prevents angry mobs from taking justice into their own hands. In the words of Balzac, “to distrust the judiciary marks the beginning of the end of society.” To keep this public trust, we must all try our best every day to get it right. Your participation in this system as part of a jury of one’s peers, and your fairness in trying to reach the correct result under the law is crucial to this process.
The other responsibility I want to mention today is the responsibility to vote. As a U.S. citizen, your vote counts the same as that of anyone else, no matter how rich or powerful they may be. You should exercise that right by voting responsibly and often. No election is too small for you to exercise your right to vote. As Abraham Lincoln famously said in his Gettysburg Address, this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. As of today, you all now share the responsibility for ensuring that those words remain true.
Once again, congratulations!”
Copyright 2019 Jeffrey S. Chase. All rights reserved.
Jeffrey S. Chase is an immigration lawyer in New York City. Jeffrey is a former Immigration Judge, senior legal advisor at the Board of Immigration Appeals, and volunteer staff attorney at Human Rights First. He is a past recipient of AILA’s annual Pro Bono Award, and previously chaired AILA’s Asylum Reform Task Force.
