Tag: Judge Quynh Vu Bain

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.

**************************************************
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…

*************************************

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

Related posts:

  1. HERE’S WHAT THE DISHONEST SCOFFLAW OFFICIALS IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW: Many Who Escape From The Northern Triangle Are, In Fact, Refugees — When They Are Given Access To Competent Counsel & Fair Hearings Before Fair & Impartial Judges, They Often Succeed In Getting Protection! – Here’s Another “Real Life” Example!
  2. ANOTHER DUE PROCESS ASYLUM VICTORY FOR THE GW IMMIGRATION CLINIC AT THE ARLINGTON IMMIGRATION COURT!
  3. ARLINGTON IMMIGRATION COURT: ANOTHER WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS! – GW CLINIC HELPS EL SALVADORAN WOMAN & CHILDREN GET ASYLUM!
  4. MORE GOOD NEWS FROM PROFESSOR ALBERTO BENITEZ @ GW LAW: Two More Northern Triangle Lives Saved By Asylum Grants in Arlington – Giving Lie To the Trump Administration/Restrictionist Claim That Northern Triangle Refugees Are “Economic Migrants” — No, The Vast Majority Are “Legitimate Refugees” Being Screwed Over By Our Government’s Skewed, Dishonest, Immoral, & Often Illegal Policies

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…”
***************************************
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

Related posts:

  1. ARLINGTON IMMIGRATION COURT: ANOTHER WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS! – GW CLINIC HELPS EL SALVADORAN WOMAN & CHILDREN GET ASYLUM!
  2. “TERRIFIC TRIO” INSPIRES STUDENTS, FIGHTS FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE AT UVA LAW IMMIGRATION CLINIC — PLUS EXTRA BONUS: Go Back To School This Fall — Take My “One-Lecture” Class “Basic Asylum Law for Litigators” Right Here!
  3. JULIA PRESTON: CHAOS IN COURT! – TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S MAL-ADMINISTRATION OF IMMIGRATION COURTS RUINS LIVES, FRUSTRATES JUDGES!
  4. REPORT FROM FBA, AUSTIN: Read My Speech “JUSTICE BETRAYED: THE INTENTIONAL MISTREATMENT OF CENTRAL AMERICAN ASYLUM APPLICANTS BY THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW”