TAMU Law Prof. Fatma Marouf appeals to immigration judge

Posted by Texas A&M School of Law on Apr 7, 2020 11:22:08 AM

fatma-marouf-website-4Texas A&M School of Law Professor Fatma Marouf spearheaded the drafting of a letter to Chief Immigration Judge Christopher Santoro on behalf of professors who teach immigration clinics. The letter urges the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to:

  1. Order the of release individuals held in detention and temporarily close the immigration courts;
  2. Prioritize bond hearings and grant subsequent bond redetermination hearings based on COVID-19 as a changed circumstance;
  3. Facilitate VTC and telephonic appearances by counsel and witnesses; and
  4. Temporarily stop the issuance of removal orders. 
The letter was drafted in collaboration with: 
  • Elissa Steglich (UT)
  • Geoff Hoffman (Houston)
  • Sabi Ardalan (Harvard)
  • Ingrid Early (UCLA)
  • Erica Schommer (St. Mary's)
  • Denise Gilman (UT)
  • Phil Torrey (Harvard)

Excerpt below: 

Dear Chief Immigration Judge Santoro:

We are law school professors who teach immigration clinics that provide pro bono representation in immigration courts around the country. We write to urge you to immediately develop and implement proactive plans for the prevention and management of COVID-19 at all United States immigration courts. In this letter, we offer several recommendations for such protective measures.

  • Click here to read the original letter in its entirety and review specific asks.
  • A follow up letter was sent April 20, 2020. Click here to view.

Fatma Marouf is a professor of law and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Texas A&M School of Law.

The Immigrant Rights Clinic engages law students in direct representation of immigrants before the Immigration Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals and U.S. Courts of Appeals. Representation focuses on deportation defense, particularly for individuals in immigration detention, as well as affirmative filings for survivors of crimes and abuse.

Clients include asylum-seekers fleeing persecution in their home countries, permanent residents facing deportation due to a criminal conviction, unaccompanied children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent, and undocumented individuals with substantial ties to the United States. The clinic recognizes the importance of providing trauma-informed services in these cases and values interdisciplinary collaboration with social workers, psychologists and health care professionals.

Anyone with limited financial resources in need of legal counsel related to immigration may contact the Immigrant Rights Clinic. Clients are selected based on a variety of factors, including educational value to the law students, potential impact on society or communities and timing.

Topics: Fatma Marouf, faculty and staff, immigration, COVID-19

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About Texas A&M School of Law

Texas A&M School of Law is an American Bar Association-accredited institution located in downtown Fort Worth. In 2013, the law school acquired Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. Since integrating with Texas A&M six years ago, the law school has sustained a remarkable upward trajectory by dramatically increasing entering class credentials, adding 10 clinics and six global field study destinations, increasing the depth and breadth of its career services, student services, academic support and admissions functions and hiring 28 new faculty members.

For more information, visit law.tamu.edu.

About Texas A&M University

Texas A&M, established in 1876 as the first public university in Texas, is one of the nation’s largest universities with more than 66,000 students and more than 440,000 living alumni residing in over 150 countries around the world. A tier-one university, Texas A&M holds the rare triple land-, sea- and space-grant designation. Research conducted at Texas A&M represented annual expenditures of more than $905.4 million in fiscal year 2017. Texas A&M’s research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting, in many cases, in economic benefits to the state, nation and world.

About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world's leading research institutions, Texas A&M is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represented annual expenditures of more than $905.4 million in fiscal year 2017. Texas A&M ranked in the top 20 of the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey (2016), based on expenditures of more than $892.7 million in fiscal year 2016. Texas A&M’s research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting, in many cases, in economic benefits to the state, nation and world. To learn more, visit http://research.tamu.edu.