IMMIGRATION law B Y p e t e r mar k o w it z
Five Years of Running the Immigration Justice Clinic The Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic has just completed its fifth year of operation at Cardozo School of Law. When Cardozo hired me to develop the clinic five years ago, we set three goals for ourselves. We wanted first to help provide representation for the most vulnerable and least served immigrants facing deportation. Simultaneously, we sought to enhance the power of immigrant communities by representing communitybased organizations seeking to bring about systemic changes to law and policy. Finally, and most critically, we wanted to educate and launch the careers of the next generation of immigration advocates and social justice lawyers. Along the way, through the amazing work of our committed student advocates, we have had a number of notable victories. In the first year of the clinic, we uncovered, through federal FOIA litigation, startling evidence of the widespread use of illegal warrantless swat-style home raids by the federal immigration authorities. We published our finding in a report entitled Constitution on ICE, which garnered significant media attention and prompted both substantial policy changes and a federal lawsuit. These reactions have collectively served to sharply curtail the use of home raids by immigration authorities. In later years, our students took aim at two pernicious aspects of federal immigration enforcement that seek to draft local law enforcement agencies into the job of routine civil immigration enforcement. This devolution of immigration enforcement drives a wedge between immigrant communities and the police, making us all less safe. As part of this effort, students litigated a major federal lawsuit to uncover the truth about a then-secret new program called “Secure Communities”—a program that seeks to impose civil immigration checks on early police encounters before people are even formally charged with a crime. 46
Our lawsuit prompted hundreds of newspaper articles and two federal investigations. Three governors subsequently asked to have their states removed from the program. Our students also developed the concept of “detainer discretion”—the idea that states and localities can choose not to hand individuals over for deportation. The clinic provided legal support for the passage of two detainer discretion laws here in New York City and inspired similar efforts in jurisdictions across the country. Collectively, these efforts have spared thousands of families from being torn apart by deportation. These are but a few examples of the incredible accomplishments of our students over these first five years. But in taking stock now of what we have achieved, it is becoming clearer by the day that our greatest impact will be through the influence we have had on our students. The significant majority of the clinic’s alumni have gone on to careers in public interest law, with many working at the top public interest and immigrant rights organizations in New York and across the country. We’ve had alumni working in the immigration units at four of the city’s six public defender offices and at other premier public interest organizations such as the Correctional Association of New York, Immigration Equality, the Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York Legal Assistance Group, and the Urban Justice Center. In addition, we have had a number of students awarded prestigious postgraduate fellowships and federal clerkships. Unquestionably, the most enduring impact of Cardozo’s Immigration Justice Clinic will be the continuing commitment and accomplishments of our alumni, who continue to strive toward justice for immigrants and for all marginalized communities. ? Peter Markowitz is Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic. cardozo life