With no UA law clinic director, immigrants left in legal void

FAYETTEVILLE -- Last April, about 35 residents attended a one-day clinic in Springdale on becoming United States citizens, said Margarita Solorzano, executive director of the Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas.

As in previous years, University of Arkansas law students with the school's Immigration Law Clinic helped the organization with the citizenship event, taking time on a Saturday to help aspiring citizens fill out the necessary paperwork.

No such event is likely this spring, however, Solorzano said. Elizabeth Young, the clinic's director since it was established in 2008, left UA last fall to become an immigration judge in California.

While the university plans to hire a replacement, for now students and the community are left without the immigration law clinic at a time when area attorneys say there is an increased demand for immigration legal services.

"Hopefully, they do get back open again, just because with the incoming president [and] new laws, a lot of things are supposedly changing," said Paul Waddell, a Springdale immigration attorney, adding that he's been getting more calls lately from potential clients.

President-elect Donald Trump spoke often during his election campaign about beefing up border security and taking greater action to enforce immigration laws. Under President Barack Obama, many young people who arrived in the United States without proper documentation have been allowed to apply for deferred action, but the policy, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is based on an executive action that Trump has pledged to terminate.

Faculty members have voted to hire someone who would direct the clinic, said Darinda Sharp, communications director for the UA School of Law.

Law clinics give students a chance to work with clients, who are able to get free legal help from students under the supervision of a licensed attorney.

Under Young's leadership, the UA clinic had become a place to refer people seeking assistance.

"We typically refer several hundred clients a year to the Clinic for help," Frank Head, director of Springdale-based Catholic Charities Immigration Services, said in an email. "The quality of legal aid that clients receive at the Clinic would be far beyond their reach from private attorneys due to the high cost."

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Head said he is "saddened" that the clinic will not operate this spring and hopes that it will be revived.

Young's salary was $151,852 at the time she left UA, according to a university spokesman. The law school hired a visiting assistant professor, Drew Devenport, a practicing attorney who led the clinic last fall and will teach immigration law this spring, according Sharp. Devenport is paid $43,000 based on a nine-month appointment, a university spokesman said.

Sharp said the immigration clinic, unlike other clinics, had been offered every semester, with the goal to find Young's replacement "sooner rather than later."

Waddell, the Springdale attorney, said he took part in the clinic as a student and "fell in love" with immigration law. He worked to help a woman appeal a deportation order, traveling to Memphis for court proceedings.

With the election of Trump, his office is getting calls from people being "a lot more proactive," Waddell said. Some want information on what happens if they are detained by immigration authorities. Others are seeking to make legal arrangements for their children, he said.

Rob Terrell, another immigration attorney based in Springdale, said he started a new firm in Springdale three months ago. But he said he's been "extremely busy," calling the election "the catalyst for some people to seek our services."

Terrell said he came to Arkansas from Georgia to attend law school at UA specifically because of the immigration law clinic.

"I absolutely loved it once I got in there," Terrell said, adding that the clinic frequently served students and university employees.

But "it touched the entirety of Northwest Arkansas," Terrell said.

Metro on 01/09/2017

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