Immigration, Small Law Firms

Shining The Spotlight On Immigration Law

Access to immigration counsel, especially for Afghan nationals, is incredibly important in these trying times.

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The amount of immigration assistance needed for Afghan nationals seeking refuge in the U.S., is shining the spotlight yet again on the need for immigration lawyers to step up in times of crises. And there must be a systemic solution to finding sustainable help.

We learned during the Trump administration how invaluable the expertise, wisdom, and passion held by immigration lawyers truly are. Immigration lawyers jumped in head-first to protect people during the travel ban, provided endless know-your-rights presentations during excessive ICE enforcement and represented separated families in court when babies and children were being taken away from their parents on the southern border.

Indeed, the need was great, and the high demand slowly stripped immigration lawyers of energy and resources needed to provide ongoing assistance. As in other fields of law, immigration lawyers have niche expertise that comes with time and experience. Many nonimmigration lawyers stepped up to do pro bono work, which was essential. But it was clear that the expertise of immigration lawyers is crucial for supervising, guiding, and assisting in case preparation.

Now with the Afghanistan withdrawal, we face a similar shortage of immigration lawyers. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, AILA, there are about 15,000 immigration lawyers in the United States. We need their skills to help with preparation of humanitarian parole and special immigrant visas to bring Afghans to safety in the United States.  Yet, from my experience, the number of immigration lawyers with expertise in humanitarian parole and special immigrant visas is but a very small fraction of the total number practicing immigration law. And while many of them have donated countless hundreds of pro bono hours in the last month on behalf of Afghan nationals — and will likely continue to do so — we need to build capacity.

Organizations like Pars Equality Center, CAIR-Washington here in Seattle, as well as several others across the country have stepped up to work with this vulnerable group and help them reach the United States. And many nonimmigration lawyers have joined forces with them to take on pro bono cases.

On September 8, 2021, I helped to arrange an event to train nonimmigration lawyers across the country in this critical area. About 850 nonimmigration lawyers registered, and 450 lawyers attended the live program. We are grateful to them and believe they will make a difference to the organizations working with these Afghan immigrants.

But with limited capacity to supervise, these organizations also need immigration lawyers with expertise in this area to be part of the solution.

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There’s already a model for that. During the Trump years, I helped form the Washington Immigrant Defense Network (WIDEN) where we trained nonimmigration lawyers and paid a low bono fee to immigration lawyers to supervise and represent cases in detained immigration trials. This model was set up to help those families affected by the crisis on the southern border that were sent to Seattle. In addition, I helped create a model in which immigration lawyers were paid a low bono fee to attend legal clinics where immigrant families sought help with their cases. Both models demonstrate that by valuing the time and expertise of immigration lawyers, we can help build the capacity that is required to serve vulnerable communities.

We are in one of those critical moments where we need to think about the sustainability of organizations and programs that serve during humanitarian crises. In view of the complexities of immigration law and the high demand, we need to create systems in which immigration lawyers can be paid a stipend or a low bono fee to fill a critical role. For we can be sure that assistance will be needed long after the news cycle moves on and those still helping will be left without support.

Tahmina Watson is the founding attorney of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle, where she practices US immigration law focusing on business immigration. She has been blogging about immigration law since 2008 and has written numerous articles in many publications. She is the author of Legal Heroes in the Trump Era: Be Inspired. Expand Your Impact. Change the World and The Startup Visa: Key to Job Growth and Economic Prosperity in America.  She is also the founder of The Washington Immigrant Defense Network (WIDEN), which funds and facilitates legal representation in the immigration courtroom, and co-founder of Airport Lawyers, which provided critical services during the early travel bans. Tahmina is regularly quoted in the media and is the host of the podcast Tahmina Talks Immigration. She is a Puget Sound Business Journal 2020 Women of Influence honoree.  Business Insider recently named her as one of the top immigration attorneys in the U.S. that help tech startups. You can reach her by email at [email protected], connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter at @tahminawatson.

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