Clinic students face turmoil

Immigrant detainees and USC Law students experience 'how badly things can go' —By Lori Craig Students who enroll in the USC Immigration Clinic look forward to the experience of practicing law in the real world. They work on 80 immigration cases a year, usually for clients seeking asylum due to persecution based on political activities, ethnicity or sexual identity.

South Texas Detention Complex

Although the work is always strenuous, clinic students this year struggled with an additional challenge: contentious dealings with government immigration agencies. When the students showed up at the San Pedro immigrant detention center for a regular meeting with clients one morning last semester, they found the facility empty. The guards there said they didn’t know where the clinic’s eight clients — and 396 other detainees — had been taken. “Literally no notice was given,” said Clinic Director Niels Frenzen. “It’s like our clients had disappeared.” The four students whose clients were missing began calling every detention center and Immigration and Customs Enforcement phone number they could find. “It was sort of a game,” said 2L Tali Kweller. “They’re pretty good at ignoring phone calls.” Later, a client named Roberto would say the detainees were woken up in the middle of the night and told they were being moved. For security reasons, the guards in San Pedro didn’t tell the detainees where they were headed.

Aerial view of the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, Texas

“We spent a week and a half trying to find them,” said 2L Christian Andreu-von Euw. “By the time we found all of them, I was just relieved to know where they were.” The clients turned up at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, TX, about 60 miles southwest of San Antonio, and federal officials were trying to move the clients’ cases from Los Angeles to San Antonio Immigration Court. In a bid to continue to represent their clients, the clinic students contested the changes of venue to keep the cases in L.A. “Our clients are in the middle of nowhere and it’s really hard for lawyers to get there, so there’s a lot fewer free legal services available to these detainees,” Andreu-von Euw said. “If we didn’t bring their cases back to L.A. they would have been left without lawyers.” The students have since won changes of venue in all but one case; the arrangement was made possible by the use of video conferencing equipment installed in a courtroom in downtown L.A. (The DHS has ignored judges’ rulings that detainees be brought back to California, either to San Diego or Lancaster, Frenzen says.) Though not ideal, the video conferencing set-up allows Immigration Clinic clients to appear via television monitor from Pearsall. “Obviously it’s a lot harder for us to actually represent people in court in Texas,” said 2L Sara Van Hofwegen. “I think the right of all these detainees to have legal representation has been diminished.”

Pearsall, Texas

“These conditions certainly make for a much more truncated process,” said 2L Elizabeth Gonzalez, who has three clients in Texas. “I feel that I’m representing them as best I can but that’s not as good as if they were here and I were able to see them whenever I wanted to. Answering questions on the phone is not the same as sitting down with someone.” Prof. Frenzen, Andreu-von Euw, Kweller, van Hofwegen and Gonzalez have made two trips to Pearsall this semester to consult with their clients and address conditions at the facility. “At the time they were ecstatic we were there,” Andreu-von Euw said. “But in general, their spirits were poor, especially as time went on.” Aside from the stress of being separated from their attorneys and families, some transgendered clients are distraught at being isolated from the general population, against their will, for their protection. “They seem to be suffering from anxiety and depression,” Gonzalez said. “They’re in need of mental assistance but they’re not getting it.” The students have pushed for improved medical care, particularly for their clients who are HIV-positive. Some clients reported not receiving medication at the proper time and not being able to see a nurse or doctor.

South Texas Detention Center

“It seems like something you’d hear about happening in another country, not the U.S.,” Kweller said. “I think most people would be shocked that this is happening, even to illegal immigrants.” The move that made it difficult for USC Law students to represent their clients deterred other Southern California lawyers. In Pearsall, the students’ clients would come to their meetings holding lists of dozens of names of other detainees who needed legal help. The students picked up several additional clients and helped other detainees where they could. “It really is a first-hand experience with the raw power of Homeland Security,” Frenzen said. “As horrible as it is, it’s a rare experience of just how badly things can go in the immigration world because the Constitution doesn’t provide the same level of protection in immigration cases.” The students have won asylum for several Pearsall clients and have a number of hearings in the weeks to come. Van Hofwegen will travel to San Antonio for a case that wasn’t transferred back to L.A. With the issue of venue out of the way, the students are hoping to put more energy into their clients’ ultimate need: asylum. “There are cases around the corner and I don’t feel prepared because I’ve spent all my time putting out fires,” Andreu von Euw said.