Law Students Rush to Meet Needs In Booming Field of Immigration

And although practitioners' ranks are growing -- membership in the American Immigration Lawyers Association has nearly doubled since 2003, to more than 11,000, 15 percent of whom passed the bar exam within the past three years -- the majority of students in immigration law classes will not become immigration lawyers, professors said. Many students said they might specialize in another area and do pro bono immigration cases on the side.

But there is a growing realization, students and professors said, that policies on issues such as asylum and due process are evolving as never before, particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A growing immigrant population also means that legal status often complicates what might have once been simple criminal or labor cases.

"It's not just that people think immigration is important, but they're seeing that it affects everything," said Hiroshi Motomura, an immigration law professor who will join UCLA in the fall.

Many students said their studies had underscored how thorny immigration is. Jennifer Khouri recently graduated from George Washington University Law School. As a student, she successfully argued at Arlington Immigration Court that an illegal immigrant from Colombia should be allowed to stay in the United States with her young son, a U.S. citizen. As proud as Khouri is of that victory, she is starting a job this fall as a U.S. Department of Justice attorney representing the government in immigration court.

"On both sides, the reaction is too emotional. . . . There's not enough actually looking at the numbers, empirical evidence about how immigrants are affecting the country," said Khouri, 27, the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant father and Cuban immigrant mother. "The reason I want to work for the government is because I want to push for the middle."

The topic's ultra-political nature frustrates some. Asha Allam, who recently took GW's immigration clinic, said the experience made her decide against the field because she thought the immigration system was unfair, in part because of documented disparities of approval and denial rates among immigration judges. Stalled federal immigration legislation also means lawyers can offer little aid to illegal immigrants, she said.

"Lawyers are telling a lot of their clients, 'There's nothing we can do for you right now,' " said Allam, 23, who plans to work in global trade in hopes that someday people will not have to migrate for opportunities. "That's not really legal advice," she said.

The challenges have only energized Karlie Dunsky, a GW law student. Unlike many of her peers, she had little experience with immigrants while growing up in Ohio. But she's set on a career in refugee and asylum law.

"I'm going to have to get used to my clients' claims being denied, but the first one is always hard," said Dunsky, 24. But, she said, "what makes immigration so compelling is that it's a human issue. . . . It's not some vague entity that doesn't have a face. It really motivates you."