HATS OFF (ONCE AGAIN) TO THE “GOOD GUYS” — GW Law Clinic Saves More Lives In Gang-Related Case! — This Is What US Asylum Law Could & Should Be!

Friends,

Please join me in congratulating Immigration Clinic student-attorney Dana Florkowski and her client, S-M, from El Salvador. This morning, after a three-hour hearing, immigration judge (IJ) Quynh Vu Bain granted the asylum application of S-M and her eighteen year-young daughter. The ICE trial attorney waived appeal so the grant is final. This was the fourth asylum grant won by the student-attorneys this semester. Fifteen lives have been saved.

S-M and her abuser met and lived together in the USA. After repeated beatings, rapes, and verbal abuse, S-M called the police, which lead to the abuser’s removal to El Salvador. After his return to El Salvador, the abuser and his brother, who have connections with the Mara 18 gang, threatened to kill S-M’s mother and daughter, who remained there, unless S-M rejoined him. Despite her concerns, S-M decided to return to El Salvador because, as she testified, “I would rather put my life at risk than my daughter’s.” S-M’s US citizen son, the son of her abuser, accompanied her to El Salvador. After her return, the beatings, rapes, and verbal abuse continued. S-M decided to flee El Salvador after the abuser threatened to kill her and turn her daughter over to the Mara 18 gang to be raped. Sadly, S-M and her daughter fled so quickly she had to leave behind her son. During this morning’s hearing, the IJ said she was troubled by S-M’s voluntary return to El Salvador. Dana explained that the return was not voluntary, and she cited the psychological evidence of the abuser’s control over S-M. The IJ concluded that S-M’s return to El Salvador was under duress. Now that S-M and her daughter are safe, the student-attorneys will work to reunite her son, now nine, with her.

Congratulations also to Alyssa Currier, Karoline Núñez, and Jonathan Bialosky, who previously worked on this case.

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Alberto Manuel Benitez
Professor of Clinical Law
Director, Immigration Clinic
The George Washington University Law School
650 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-7463
(202) 994-4946 fax
abenitez@law.gwu.edu
THE WORLD IS YOURS…

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Lots of good things at work here!

Great representation. Scholarly judging from Judge Bain (certainly how I remember her from Arlington). And, kudos to the DHS Assistant Chief Counsel in Arlington for waiving appeal when justice has been done. This is the way I remember the ICE OCC in Arlington  — skilled litigators who properly required critical examination of all claims but also had an overall commitment to fairness, justice, and making the system work!

This is actually a “casebook study” of  how the asylum system in Immigration Court is supposed to work. It still could work this way in many, perhaps eventually most, cases if Sessions and the politicos at DOJ would just get out of the way and let the Immigration Judges, respondents’ Counsel, and the DHS Assistant Chief Counsel do their jobs!

Thanks again to Professor Benitez and his team at GW and to all the other clinical, pro bono, “low bono,” and other counsel out there striving every day to see that our justice system actually delivers justice.

PWS

03-08-18

ANOTHER DUE PROCESS ASYLUM VICTORY FOR THE GW IMMIGRATION CLINIC AT THE ARLINGTON IMMIGRATION COURT!

Professor Benitez reports:

“Friends,

Please join me in congratulating Immigration Clinic student-attorney Solangel González, who this afternoon won a grant of asylum for her clients, N-R and her two minor children, from El Salvador.  The ICE trial attorney waived appeal so the decision is final.  The immigration judge (IJ), Quynh Vu Bain, commenced today’s proceeding in the above manner.

N-R was threatened by the MS gang in her country because of her familial relationship with her uncle, who was murdered by the gang.  After her uncle’s body was discovered, N-R called the police.  While discussing the murder with a police officer a gang member walked by and saw the discussion.  During the discussion, however, the police officer told N-R that it was best if she dropped the matter because, if they found out she filed a complaint, the gang could kill her kids.  N-R later was told by a gang associate that she and her kids would be killed if she pursued the complaint.  Out of caution, N-R moved with her children to another part of El Salvador, but the gang continued to look for her.  Finally, N-R and her children fled to the USA.  N-R testified that the gang members continue to look for her.

Congratulations also to Alyssa Currier, Karoline Núñez, Chen Liang, and Jonathan Bialosky, who previously worked on this case.

NOTE:  While waiting in the lobby for her case to be called, Solangel escorted a respondent, who didn’t know where to go and who didn’t know who her lawyer was, to her assigned court room, thus avoiding a potential in absentia removal order.

**************************************************
Alberto Manuel Benitez
Professor of Clinical Law
Director, Immigration Clinic
The George Washington University Law School
650 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-7463
(202) 994-4946 fax
abenitez@law.gwu.edu
THE WORLD IS YOURS…”
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Congrats to all involved! It also illustrates one of the points that I repeatedly make. With good representation, adequate time to prepare, a good judge who knows asylum law and takes individuals’ rights seriously, and a conscientious Assistant Chief Counsel representing the DHS, many of the Central American asylum claims are very “winnable” under the law. That’s why detaining individuals in poor conditions in locations where competent pro bono counsel is not readily available and cases are being “raced through” to minimize detention expenses and maximize removal statistics is so unfair and such an obvious violation of due process.
Also, this is the Judge Quynh Vu Bain that I remember as a former colleague at the Arlington Immigration Court: fair, scholarly, hard-working, kind, and Due Process oriented. My Georgetown Law student observers remarked on how welcoming she was and how she went out of-her way to make sure that everyone in the courtroom understood what was happening and why.
Despite Sessions’s disdain for individual rights of migrants (particularly vulnerable asylum seekers) and Due Process, and his fanatic emphasis on using the U.S. Immigration Courts as mere tools of DHS enforcement, there are many U.S. immigration Judges out there working conscientiously every day to provide fairness and Due Process to vulnerable migrants while laboring under some of the highest stress levels and worst working conditions faced by any judges in America!
America needs an independent Article I United States Immigration Court dedicated to guaranteeing “fairness and due process for all” now!
DUE PROCESS FOREVER!
PWS
01-19-18

LAW360: BIA REMOVES IMMIGRATION JUDGE FOR ABUSIVE CONDUCT DURING HEARING!

https://www.law360.com/articles/999284/judge-s-hostile-and-bullying-acts-prompt-new-hearing

Kevin Penton reports for Law360:

“Law360, New York (January 5, 2018, 9:27 PM EST) — The Board of Immigration Appeals has vacated an immigration judge’s denials of a Salvadoran native’s bids to secure asylum and to duck deportation, after finding that the judge used “hostile and bullying behavior” toward the individual’s attorney.

The BIA wants a different judge to review the case, essentially from scratch, after finding that the Immigration Judge Quynh V. Bain “screamed” at the lawyer for more than five minutes, mimicked her voice, called her “several disrespectful names,” said she was “unprofessional” and refused to allow a recess…”

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Those with complete Law360 access can read Penton’s full story at the link. Kudos to the BIA for “stepping up” to stop such abuses and protect due process!

Surprisingly, and sadly, Judge Quynh V. Bain is one of my former colleagues at the U.S. Immigration Court in Arlington, Virginia. The Arlington Immigration Court generally has had a well-deserved reputation for fairness, professionalism, respect, teamwork, and unfailing courtesy. In other words, it’s always been a court where lawyers on both sides enjoy practicing. Indeed, it often serves as a “training court” for student attorneys, interns, new Assistant Chief Counsel, and newly appointed U.S. Immigration Judges. So, I’d have to assume that this was an aberration in the context of Arlington.

Nevertheless, given the high stress levels that U.S. Immigration Judges are already working under, the plans of Attorney General Jeff “Gonzo Apocalypto” Sessions to “torque up” the pressure on Immigration Judges to turn our final orders of removal without much, if any regard, for due process, the counter-pressure from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for Immigration Courts to function like “real” courts, the many newly appointed inexperienced Immigration Judges, and the lack of meaningful training for Immigration Judges, I would expect such incidents to increase in the future. Just another reason why it’s past time for an independent Article I U.S. immigration Court!

Changing to the topic of Law360, one of my favorite “immigration beat” reporters, Allissa Wickham (a/k/a the fabulous “AWick”) tells me that she has left Law360 for a “new gig” with HBO, working on a show featuring Wyatt Cenac (formerly of the “Daily Show”). The show is scheduled to air this spring. Allissa says that she will continue to do original reporting, so hopefully at least some immigration topics will find their way into her “portfolio.” Good luck Allissa, and thanks for all of your great immigration reporting, clear writing, and many contributions while at Law360!

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PWS

01-06-18