‘I Don’t Think We Were Prepared for This Level of Cruelty’

U. of Pittsburgh School of Law

This semester, Elissa Steglich’s law students handled two cases of immigrant mothers seeking asylum in the United States, both separated from their young children in the process. One of the children was 18 months old.

Steglich, a clinical professor in the University of Texas School of Law’s Immigration Clinic, has long been involved with family detention and cases of separation. But recently, she said, the intensity and frequency of cases have “skyrocketed.” Even as an experienced legal professional, it came as a shock, she said.

“I don’t think we were prepared for this level of cruelty,” Steglich said.

Usually, clinical professors are able to choose cases that they’re “comfortable” with, Steglich said, so that it’s easier to guide students through the process. That’s all changed. Steglich said she faces a new challenge: teaching students to practice law while navigating uncharted territory.

The practice of separating families at the border was banned on Wednesday after President Trump issued an executive order amending his administration’s policy, but the United States is still considered to be in an immigration crisis. And at the front lines of the crisis are immigration lawyers, including law professors and their students.

Steglich’s clinic operates in a border state, but the state of U.S. immigration policy has affected offices throughout the nation.

U. of Pittsburgh School of Law

Sheila Vélez Martínez is the director of clinical programs and the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law. Martínez said the way her clinic chooses and handles cases has shifted from previous years, especially now, when it comes to appeals for asylum. She and other legal professionals are in a constant state of “uncertainty” as laws are continually changed. But the clinical system is built for these kinds of twists, she said.

As the only immigration clinic in western Pennsylvania, the office has been thrown into chaos since early 2017, Martínez said, beginning with the travel ban barring immigrants from several Middle Eastern countries. She compared her life as a clinical instructor to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”

Elizabeth Frankel, associate director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, based at the University of Chicago, said she had seen a surge in requests for legal services.

The center’s work focuses on arguing what’s in the best interests of immigrant children who find themselves caught up in the court system. Students can serve as the children’s advocates.

But even with the extra help, Frankel said, “we don’t have the capacity to meet the need.”

Alongside the increased demand, there’s been an outpouring of support from the public.

“People want to do something,” Frankel said.

Steglich said that confronting the influx of cases and the complexity of the immigration system, in its current state, can be emotionally draining for students. She said one student fought successfully to have a judge reopen a case to hear her argument, but that was “just one step in many” to reunite the mother and child.

“The students see quite sharply the human impact and the power, and quite honestly, the violence that law can do,” she said. “Particularly at this time, looking at the role of lawyers and the decision making to wield the sharpness of the law so cruelly against a particular already-marginalized group of people — it was, for many, a really hard thing to grapple with.”

In Pittsburgh, Martínez said her clinic would add a social worker to the staff beginning next semester to help both the migrant children and the law students cope with trauma.

Despite the challenges, Martínez said she relied on the dedication of her students to meet the higher demand under the Trump administration’s immigration policies. One group of clinic alumni — now all practicing lawyers — is drafting a proposal for the City of Pittsburgh and the county in which it is located to enact legislation to protect against family separation.

“This has meant more work for them in a more intense way, and all of them have been not only able but really eager to meet that challenge,” said Martínez. “They have that commitment.”

Chris Quintana contributed to this article.