Finding my “why”

-- By IlanaDutton - 04 Apr 2023

“So, what do you do for work?”

It’s a casual question, and I’ll be ready with an answer.

“Oh, I’m an immigration attorney.”

Then the follow-up, “So what does that mean you do every day?”.

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:

“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.”

The next part of the conversation can go one of two ways. It’s either “Wow, that’s really cool/hard/powerful/important work. 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

*So, there’s clearly a lot of problems, but it seems like Congress is totally stuck on this, right?*

To those who are casual observers of the news or the immigration system, it would seem like the current Congress is a

*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:

“Increase access to representation or develop a system that doesn’t actually need lawyers by simplifying forms.”

“Develop more humane policies for people fleeing from violence.”

“Hire more immigration judges.”

“Go back in time and undo the harm the U.S. did in Central and South America which has led to the increased need for asylum-seeking in the region.”

“Abolish ICE and immigration detention.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Hi Ilana! I found reading your essay thought-provoking both on an immigration front, and as it relates to my own career as I search for what my why is. As someone whose grandmother immigrated into the country, and told me stories about what her life was like for her when she first arrived, I commend the commitment to such important work. Also, acknowledging different possibilities as to what your career may look like is something I'm trying to work on myself, and seeing someone acknowledge their own may take many different forms is reaffirming. Also, I appreciate your perspective on what has to happen once many wrongs are eliminated from the immigration system. Picking out problems is important in and of itself, but discussing what to do after them is critical, and I enjoyed reading your thoughts.