Three students from the University of San Diego School of Law recently successfully represented individuals fleeing persecution from their homelands, seeking asylum in the United States.
Each semester, select law students from USD receive internship credit for working at Casa Cornelia Law Center, a public interest law firm in San Diego that provides legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations.
"Casa Cornelia feels privileged and honored to work with such committed law students. The [students] are representing someone as an attorney does, in a case where the client's life and freedom are on the line," said Rose Kasusky, Esq., executive director of Casa Cornelia. "With grant rates for asylum being low, it takes a lot of research, writing and hard work to successfully represent an individual."
At the center, these students had the experience of working with a client, performing interviews, preparing applications, representing the client at preliminary and merits hearings, drafting legal briefs, conducting the direct examination, redirecting questions after cross-examination and giving the closing legal argument, each under the supervision of a staff attorney.
According to School of Law Dean Kevin Cole, "Casa Cornelia provides an ideal setting for our students to put their legal education into practice. We share the goal of bringing legal representation to the less fortunate who otherwise could not get the assistance of counsel."
The first individual seeking asylum was a Chaldean Christian living in Iraq and working as a barber with his brother-in-law. The shop received a threatening letter from Islamic militants warning them to stop cutting American soldiers' hair and performing hiyaffa, a facial hair removal technique that Islamic militants allege violates Islamic law.
Although scared by the letter, the client's family needed the income. The client and his brother-in-law were kidnapped, detained for weeks and tortured by Islamic militants. During his captivity, he was repeatedly insulted, harassed and called a Christian infidel.
The client was freed after his family paid a ransom, but his brother-in-law was not released and is presumed dead. The client and his family fled the country and made it to the United States/Mexico border, where he requested asylum and was detained for six months.
Victor White, a third-year USD law student, was assigned this case through the clinical program with Casa Cornelia.
"Because lack of legal representation significantly decreases an asylum-seeker's likelihood of being granted asylum, I believe clinical internships like Casa Cornelia's serve a critical role in the asylum process," White said.
White credits USD with helping him develop his analytical and writing skills, and Casa Cornelia with providing guidance and support to successfully litigate his first case.
"[This] was an incredibly powerful experience because I provided legal representation to a person who may be killed if he returned to Iraq," White said. "It was such a great opportunity to work on a very worthy and deserving case where the stakes were very high."
The second case involved a man from Somalia. The country's civil war began in 1991, and in 1994 a majority clan seized half of the client's family farm and harassed him for 10 years. In that time, the client got married, had three children and tried to live life as normally as possible.
In January 2005, the majority militia bandits broke into his house in the night, tied him to a chair and beat him with rifle butts. They grabbed his wife and 14-year-old daughter, raping them in the next room while he struggled and fought to get free. He was knocked unconscious. He awoke to find his wife shot in the head and his daughter stabbed to death. His other two children were safe elsewhere with their grandmother.
Later, he put his children in hiding and fled the country in June 2005. Smuggled by human traffickers, he made it to the United States/Mexico border by November and claimed asylum. He was placed in the detention facility, where he waited until April 2006 for his trial. He came in contact with Casa Cornelia and was connected with third-year USD law student Bardis Vakili.
"It's the most rewarding thing -- you know you're helping someone who deserves it, and without you, they wouldn't be able to get the relief that they need. It's the best thing I've done since I've started law school," he said.
The third case involved a transsexual from Argentina who was sexually abused and repeatedly assaulted by police officers. He would have been eligible for asylum, but did not realize that being in the United States for more than a year without filing an asylum case would permanently bar him and subject him to deportation. He sought help while living in Florida, but was never informed of the possibility of asylum. Later he moved to Los Angeles and was eventually detained.
"I found out later that he had tried to protect me, to sugarcoat or lessen the gruesome details of his life to save him from embarrassment or my being offended," said Min Kang, a third-year law student at USD who worked on his case.
This turned into an ongoing amendment process because stories were not always consistent and there was danger the client would appear dishonest. He was difficult because he had always been a victim, and he played that role well, Kang said.
"We were fortunate with the judge's open mind and consideration that the client was diligent in trying to find what his options were once he was in the [United] States," Kang said.
Kang has been in other clinical programs where she represented clients, but this provided the most hands-on experience.
"It's very demanding -- there were points where for two credits, I was putting in 35 hours a week, but that's how much commitment was necessary to get the job done right. It was well worth the time and effort."
*The individuals' identities are kept anonymous for their protection.
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