The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law

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Clinic Achievements

Satisfied Customer – A relieved longterm legal resident from Libya (left) poses with his representatives, Dina Moulioukova (LLM ’03) and Neil Chhabra (’03) outside the Rogers/Rountree building that houses the clinical programs. The client had lived in the U.S. since 1978 and is the loving father of two U.S. citizen children. He was ordered removed based on a DUI conviction in the 1980s and spent a year in immigration custody before a federal court ordered his case reopened in 2002. The students helped him obtain a humanitarian waiver of removal in May of 2003.

Safe Haven – Santiago, next to Clinic Director Lynn Marcus, waives a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals granting him political asylum based on persecution he experienced as an orphan living on the streets in Guatemala. His immigration case had been pending for ten years. Courtney McDermed (’01) successfully represented him at his hearing in immigration court.

(left) Erin Simpson (class of 2001) hugs Javier Guevara on a happy day for both. Ms. Simpson's work gathering documents and co-producing a videotape convinced the INS district director not to proceed with Mr. Guevara's deportation.

Click here to view the 20-minute video, co-produced for free by Desert Penguin Media, Inc.

The family was overjoyed. Outside the courtroom on the day of the dismissal are Mr. Guevara with (left to right) his wife, Clinic Director Lynn Marcus, his son, Ms. Simpson, and his daughter.

Asylum seeker victorious -- (Photo on left; left to right) Volunteer Nepali interpreter Aditya Puri, Clinic Director Lynn Marcus, and Law Student Peter Boyle (class of 2000) helped a political asylum seeker (photo at right) who fled Nepal after being beaten by Communists. The client won asylum and was released. Mr. Boyle also represented the client on appeal and won; this means the client can now apply for his wife and children to join him in the United States.

Joining Forces -- Law student Harry Miller (center, class of '95) is flanked by his client's sister and father. With them are Clinic Director Lynn Marcus and volunteer interpreter Hien Dang Ta. Mr. Miller overcame barriers of language and culture to obtain a waiver of deportation for his client (not pictured), whose father had spent six years as a political prisoner in a Vietnamese prison camp.

Law student Danielle Ventura (class of '97) gathered the evidence, prepared the testimony, and made the arguments that succeeded in keeping this family (left) together in the United States. The parents are legal permanent residents and the sons U.S. citizens. Although the father had committed a drug offense, the judge found that the act was out of character and was outweighed by a solid work record and by the man's strong emotional bonds to his wife, children, and other family members in the U.S. (A subsequent change in the law has revoked the discretion of immigration judges to grant such waivers).

Law students Gina Emanuel (right) (class of 2002) and Dena Neese (bottom right) (class of 2001) accompany a Cuban refugee and his U.S. citizen children after a Phoenix immigration judge granted the refugee lawful permanent resident status. Although he had lived in the U.S. since 1980, difficulties adjusting to a foreign society and problems with the law had prevented him from obtaining legal status. Extensive legal and factual research by the law students, and presentation of expert witness testimony, enabled him to demonstrate that his children would suffer extreme hardship if he were removed from the U.S. The students also prepared documents and a brief in support of an application for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

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