Working under the direction of Director Phil Torrey, Crimmigration Clinic students Clarissa Lehne \u201918 and Mike Ewart \u201918 successfully argued before the Board of Immigration Appeals that their client\u2019s conviction should not result in his detention and deportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was incredibly rewarding to see a tangible result of the work that we put in at the clinic,\u201d said Lehne.\u00a0 Echoing her sentiment, Ewart further noted that \u201cso much of law school is theoretical, the opportunity to apply the knowledge we learned in Phil\u2019s Crimmigration class to an actual case was invaluable\u2014and easier said than done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The client is a longtime lawful permanent resident who was convicted under a statute that criminalizes a broad range of conduct, including relatively minor conduct.\u00a0 The Department of Homeland Security argued on appeal at the Board that the immigration judge\u2019s initial determination that the conviction did not trigger removal was wrong.\u00a0 The Crimmigration Clinic\u2019s response brief demonstrated why the conviction did not categorically match a ground of removal in the immigration statute.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me this case underscores the importance of access to counsel in the immigration context (where there is no equivalent to the public defender system). Here, our client had a winning argument, but it was one that would have been extremely difficult to make without legal training and the resources we had at our disposal,\u201d noted Ewart.<\/p>\n