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< | Finding my “why”
-- By IlanaDutton - 04 Apr 2023 |
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> | Finding my Why |
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< | “So, what do you do for work?” |
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> | -- By IlanaDutton - 04 Apr 2023 |
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< | It’s a casual question, and I’ll be ready with an answer. |
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> | “So, what do you do for work?” |
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< | “Oh, I’m an immigration attorney.” |
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> | “I’m an immigration attorney.” |
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< | Then the follow-up,
“So what does that mean you do every day?”. |
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> | Then the follow-up, “so what does that mean you do every day?”. |
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< | In the future, I’ll have an answer with the specifics – whether I work with kids, survivors of gender-based violence, or detained or non-detained adults – but the underlying theme of the answer will be the same: |
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> | In the future, I’ll have specifics – whether I work with kids, survivors of gender-based violence, detained or non-detained adults – but the core of the answer will be the same: |
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< | “I help clients navigate the legal system in a variety of ways, including full representation, know-your-rights sessions, or just answering their questions. But I also work on immigration reform initiatives.” |
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> | “I help clients navigate the legal system in a variety of ways, including full representation, know-your-rights sessions, or just answering their questions. I also work on immigration reform initiatives.” |
| | The next part of the conversation can go one of two ways. |
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< | It’s either “Wow, that’s really cool/hard/powerful/important work. I could never do it.” And then we move on. |
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< | Or |
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> | It’s either “Wow, that’s really cool/hard/powerful/important. I could never do it.” And then we move on.
Or
“Wow, how did you get into that work?”
Which opens the door for my “why”?
My “why” starts at the University of Puget Sound my junior year of college in a class called Politics of Detention: Criminal Justice, Immigration, and War on Terror. The class leads to a semester internship with Northwest Immigrants’ Rights Project (NWIRP), where I get my first introduction to what my future could look like. The work is hard. I don’t know how to handle hearing client stories, but I’m learning every day. As I work with clients, the deep flaws in the system are so obvious and I’m hearing conversations about reform, advocacy, and abolition. But I’m focused on the day-to-day client work, so I don’t get too involved. I stay at NWIRP for another 1.5 years. |
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< | *_Wow, how did you get into that work?; |
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> | Post-grad, I move to New York City to work as a policy legal assistant at Her Justice. As a legal assistant, I work with survivors of gender-based violence. We write declarations and file applications. I'm liking my work and thinking about applying to law school. My role as a policy assistant shows me how client experiences can and should generate avenues for reform. While my organization was committed to reform, I sought out conversations about abolishing ICE and detention centers. I spoke to people about why they were doing this work and learned so much from them. |
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< | Which opens the door for my why?__* |
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> | My time at Her Justice showed me that my path forward is not only in policy or direct services. Instead, it is a hybrid. I provide clients with direct legal services, but I am also thinking about the big picture. I listen for patterns and pinpoint areas of the system that are acutely failing, like the delay in obtaining a work permit, and tackle those issues head-on. |
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< | My “why” starts in a classroom at the University of Puget Sound. It’s called Politics of Detention: Criminal Justice, Immigration, and War on Terror. The class leads to a semester internship with Northwest Immigrants’ Rights Project (NWIRP), where I see what my future would look like if I were to work in immigration. The work is hard, and I don’t know how to handle hearing client stories, but I’m learning every day and it’s getting better. As I work with clients, the deep flaws in the system are so obvious and I’m starting actively listen to conversations about reform, advocacy, and abolition. But I’m so focused on the day-to-day client work, I don’t get too involved. I stay at NWIRP for another 1.5 years. |
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> | When the work feels impossible, I'm reminded of what a professor once said: Freedom begins with the knowledge that other futures are possible. I know a different future exists, where the system is rooted in human dignity, and I spend my career working towards it. |
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< | Post-grad, I move to New York City to work as a policy legal assistant at Her Justice. As a legal assistant, I work with survivors of gender-based violence. We write declarations and file applications. I'm still liking my work and thinking about applying to law school. My role as a policy assistant shows me how client interaction can and should reform avenues for reform. I am part of conversations about how to fix areas of the system that directly harm my clients. While my organization was committed to reform, I sought out conversations about abolishing ICE and detention centers. I spoke to people about why they were doing this work and learned so much from them. |
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> | “What can immigration reform even look like, since it seems like Congress can’t get anything done?” |
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< | My time at Her Justice showed me that my path forward is not only in policy or only direct services. Instead, it is a hybrid. I provide clients with quality legal services every day but I am also thinking about the big picture. I listen for patterns in client experiences and pinpoint areas of the system that are acutely failing, like the delay in obtaining a work permit, and tackle those issues head-on. |
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> | I give the answer I’ve been giving since I started this work. A nod and an eye roll. The eye role is a deflection though. I spend my career seeing firsthand the pain that gridlock in Congress causes and its more dangerous than my eye roll lets on. So that’s leads to the question of why. Why can Congress not move on this issue that is critical to both human safety and the long-term economic prospects of this country? |
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< | When the work feels impossible, I'm reminded of what a professor once said: Freedom begins with the knowledge that other futures are possible. I know a different future exists, where the system works, and I spend my career working towards it. |
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> | The answer is fear. |
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< | *So, there’s clearly a lot of problems, but it seems like Congress is totally stuck on this, right?* |
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> | Using Black and Brown people to scare white people is a tactic that goes back to the arrival of the first enslaved people to the U.S. in 1619. The tactic has taken different forms since then, but in its current iteration, people (typically Republicans, but not all Democrats are guilt-free on this) focus on the one-off instances of undocumented people committing acts of violence or taking “American jobs.” By emphasizing the “danger” of undocumented people in the U.S., Republicans can stir up their base and make it politically unpopular for Democrats to work towards humane immigration reform. |
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< | To those who are casual observers of the news or the immigration system, it would seem like the current Congress is a |
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> | “So, how would you fix it?” |
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< | *So, what would you do?*
This question makes me nervous. People look at me expectantly, searching for an answer to solve this huge crisis. From experience, I’ve learned few people are looking for a history lesson about how the U.S.-Mexico border in its current form came to be (See Revisionist History: General Chapman’s Last Stand). People want quick fixes. I’ll give an answer: |
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> | There are the quick answers (even though none of them are simple): |
| | “Increase access to representation or develop a system that doesn’t actually need lawyers by simplifying forms.” |
| | “Abolish ICE and immigration detention.” |
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< | None of these answers solve the problem on their own. Just increasing access to representation won’t help the backlog of cases, but just hiring more immigration judges won’t fix the inhumane policies being implemented today. While abolishing ICE and detention is important, just getting rid of the structures that hold people won’t fix the bigger problem of the system as it stands today. It’s going to take a multi-faceted approach, that fixes the problem from multiple angles at once to make a meaningful difference. |
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> | But a lot of those are problems that require Congressional action, so the better question seems to be: |
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< | We need to develop a system rooted in human dignity and understanding, and that is navigable regardless of background or education level. It’s a system that needs to be built by the people who have been impacted by it since they have seen firsthand the failings of the system as it stands today. It is a system that considers the whole person, the reason that they came to the U.S., and what they will contribute to this country. It does not leave people in limbo, in unsafe border towns, or locked in a cage because of the internal failings of the system. |
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> | What can we do to combat Republican fearmongering and make this an issue that Democrats are willing to fight for? |
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< | Building this version of immigration won't come easy, but it's an essential process and one that I am excited to be a part of. As someone who has not been directly impacted by the system, I hope to use my legal education to support and amplify the voices of the people on the front lines of this fight, all the while providing quality representation to the people stuck in the system as it exists today. |
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> | Answering this question requires reflecting on how the media portrays immigration issues today and what it would take for people with a vision for a humane immigration system to take control of that narrative. People not directly impacted by the immigration system seem to only pay attention when there is an extreme tragedy on the border, an undocumented person commits a crime, or when a politician is using human lives as a political tool. When the coverage is focused on the tragedies at the border, we have a short attention span and move on to the next crisis instead of deeply reflecting on the human cost. |
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> | Immigration attorneys and organizers should use their voices to push immigration stories to the front headlines that show that the fearmongering is false. They should talk openly and often about the human tragedy that the system creates. But they should also talk about immigrant success and joy. They should talk about the value, both culturally and economically, that immigrants bring to society in concrete terms. |
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< | On the substance of your statement it seems to me you can attain more clarity by starting with the political reasons that the two parties in Congress cannot actually deliver, and feel no political pressure to deliver, a working immigration system. If we being by reminding the reader precisely why nothing changes, we can ore easily convey the complexities of the subject without being immediately boxed in by the partisan fear structures. |
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> | While this is not a fix to the system or an in-depth proposal about immigration reform, reclaiming the narrative of immigration will lay the groundwork for meaningful reform in the future. |
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< | How will immigrants rights organizations (which have attained through their organizing and intellectual contributions very great political influence) find their way to a breakthrough on behalf of their clients and constituents? Theirs are the single most important set of decisions that will be made over the next five to ten years, as everyone else remains constrained by their own political devices. You have well defined the why of your practice. You are right that the what will develop in your mind as you go. But these basic strategic realities will stay with you for years to come, and it's not too soon to start wrestling with them.
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