U.S. Immigration Detention Speaker Series at Santa Clara Law

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara University School of Law, a Jesuit Catholic law school in Silicon Valley, founded the first law student group affiliated with American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) this spring. Through the support of AILA’s Santa Clara Valley Chapter, particularly former Chapter President Randall Caudle, this law student group hosted its first lecturer series on “U.S. Immigration Detention from a Constitutional Perspective” during the months of March and April 2010.

“We decided to focus our first speaker series on U.S. immigration detention because we wanted to underscore the importance of enhancing procedural safeguards within our immigration detention system to ensure that everyone’s due process rights and human dignity are respected in America,” said Christina Fialho, student president of Santa Clara Law’s AILA-affiliated group.

AILA member Daniel Shanfield, Founder and Managing Attorney of the Law Office of Daniel Shanfield in San Jose, delivered the first lecture on “Representing Immigrants in Detention & The Difficulties Faced by Immigrant Detainees.” Alison Parker, Director of Human Rights Watch's U.S. Program spoke on "Using Human Rights Methods to Challenge Unfair Deportation and Detention Policy: Lessons from the US Program of Human Rights Watch." AILA member Professor Raha Jorjani rounded out the speaker series by lending her perspective as a Professor at UC Davis School of Law and Supervising Attorney at the school’s Immigration Law Clinic. She delivered a talk on "The Real-time Effect of Cooperation Between the Criminal Justice System and Immigration Enforcement."

The speakers discussed the effects that prolonged immigration detention and the practice of transferring detainees to faraway detention centers has on individuals, families and communities around the country. The event drew a diverse audience, including AILA attorneys and law students as well as representatives from the Office of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren who is the Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.

“The speaker series gave a great boost to our efforts to recruit additional members, and we are excited to continue to grow law student membership in AILA next year,” said Fialho.

The law student group will be honored at the 20th anniversary of Santa Clara University School of Law’s pro bono award program for providing students with opportunities to get involved and learn about pressing public interest issues.