Immigration

A Lawyer Makes All the Difference”

Since 2017, we have partnered with Amazon, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and Bet Tzedek to help our nation’s most vulnerable immigrant population: unaccompanied minors. So far, the partnership has successfully obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which provides lawful permanent residency, for 19 children and is close to obtaining SIJS status, asylum, or human trafficking visas for several more.

Among the clients we’ve helped through this project is a young Salvadoran woman who fled to the U.S. by herself as a teenager. Kaitlyn Fallon has worked with the client since 2018. During that time, our client’s mother passed away in El Salvador and her father has gone to prison. Under the care of her aunt, who Kaitlyn helped establish as the official guardian, our client has persevered. Kaitlyn’s success on behalf of her client was featured last year in KIND’s online newsletter.

In this video, senior leaders from the team describe the critical importance of this work and this partnership.

KIND Recognition

We’re proud that our partnership on behalf of KIND has received recognition that may inspire further commitment to this important work.

Last year, the team of Amazon, Bet Tzedek, KIND, and DWT was honored with the Corporate Pro Bono Partnership Award by the Pro Bono Institute. Said the institute: “This partnership remains an exemplary model for other organizations to respond to the rapidly emerging needs of unaccompanied migrant children.”

KIND’s Seattle office also honored Amazon’s John Donovan, Dennis Wallace, and Archita Taylor (now in private practice), together with DWT partner Jane Eckels and associate Breck Wilmot, as 2020 Pro Bono Attorneys of the Year. KIND recognized their “stellar advocacy” on behalf of a child victim of human trafficking. “The team worked diligently to develop rapport with the client to gather her story in a trauma-informed manner,” said KIND. Thanks to the team’s efforts, the client received approval for a T visa, which provides much needed, long-term stability.

San Francisco associate Anna Fero stepped in to help a client originally from Mexico whose U-visa was denied due to poor counsel.

It Took Five Years to Reach This Goal” That Ability to Come Out of the Shadows Was Just a Spectacular Relief”

A former interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan safely made it to the U.S. with his family last year, thanks to tireless work from our Seattle associate Claudia Lin, along with law students from the University of Southern California.

We’re also deploying our nationally recognized expertise in public records litigation in support of this work. Over the past two years, our pro bono committee chair, Thomas R. Burke, and New York associate Jack Browning have together helped the International Refugee Assistance Project secure records from the U.S. Department of Defense under the Freedom of Information Act. The work is ongoing and being driven by New York associate Nimra Azmi. These records will support the visa applications of more Afghans like our client, helping those who assisted this country at great danger to themselves to access this important visa.

Working to Stop ICE From Targeting Activists

Maru Mora-Villalpando has dedicated her life to the fight for immigrant justice. Over the past decade, she has organized multiple local and statewide campaigns and protests in support of immigrants and immigrant detainees and against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal and local authorities.

In 2014, it became clear that ICE was tracking her. A few years later, she received notice that the Department of Homeland Security had started removal proceedings against her. When she got ahold of the document in which ICE recorded its evidence, it specifically mentioned her “extensive involvement with anti-ICE protests” and “advocacy for Latino causes.” None of the usual triggers for deportation— such as contact with the police, raids, or prior deportations—were present.

Mora-Villalpando is far from alone in being targeted for her constitutionally protected speech. DWT has sued to stop the practice. DWT associate Robbie Miller is spearheading the suit, along with partners Bruce E.H. Johnson and Ambika Kumar, two of the leading First Amendment lawyers in the country. Plaintiffs in the case are La Resistencia, an organization co-founded by Mora-Villalpando that works to combat human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, and the Seattlebased Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites, which works to undo institutional racism.

Our lawsuit argues that as a result of ICE’s unconstitutional practices, detainees’ family members are afraid to speak and our clients’ ability to carry out their missions has been compromised.

ICE has twice tried and failed to get the suit dismissed. The Biden administration recently sought and received a temporary stay in the case while it develops updated civil immigration enforcement guidance.

Uncovering Egregious Acts Being Committed in Our Name”

Without the dedication of groups like the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR), the treatment of undocumented immigrants in U.S. custody might never come to light. Last year, successful Freedom of Information Act litigation on behalf of UWCHR resulted in a headline-making November 2020 report. Our former Seattle associate Jordan Clark (now inhouse at Expedia) and UWCHR director Angela Godoy describe how essential these efforts are for holding our government accountable.