Dec. 5, 2002
GW Law School’s Immigration Clinic Wins Freedom
for Man Wrongfully Detained by INS
Four Students Conducted Research, Appeared in Court
The GW Law School’s Immigration Clinic won freedom for a man wrongfully
detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
“This case was unusual in several ways,” says Alberto Benítez,
professor of clinical law and director of the Immigration Clinic. “It
highlighted the harsher aspects of the Immigration and Nationality Act
and took much longer to resolve because the circumstances were so unique.”
Born in Austria in 1956 of an Austrian mother and a US serviceman, the
client (whose name, for reasons of privacy, was not released) was relinquished
to an orphanage in Salzburg in 1957. In 1962, a couple from Washington,
DC, adopted the boy through an organization specializing in the placement
of war-time babies. At the age of 6 he was admitted to the US as
a lawful permanent resident.
“Soon after he arrived, however, the couple placed him in foster
care as they were unable to care for him,” explains Benítez.
“He was then bounced from family to family during the remainder
of his youth and was never naturalized to US citizenship.”
The client joined the US Army in 1974 at the age of 18 and was honorably
discharged in 1979. In 1993 he was convicted of attempted robbery without
a weapon and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was later convicted
of robbery and attempted robbery in 1995 and sentenced to four to 12
years in prison. The INS initiated removal proceedings in 1997 based
on these convictions with plans to return him to Austria and immediately
detained him upon his parole in 2001.
“Through the work of many clinical students we were able to prove
that our client had relinquished his Austrian citizenship by volunteering
for the US Army,” says Benítez. “This prevented the
INS from sending him to Austria and from detaining him any longer.”
On Oct. 4, four years after the clinic became involved, the client was
released from INS custody. “Such a positive outcome would have
been impossible without the skill, dedication, and talent of our clinical
students Akin Alcitepe (’99), Candy Caballero (’00), Sharan
Nirmul (’01), and Jennifer Chung (’98),” says Benítez. “They
handled all of the complicated lawyering tasks — research, writing,
court appearances, and more. Their lawyering is a model for law students
and lawyers everywhere.”
GW’s Immigration Clinic has provided legal representation to aliens
in the DC metropolitan area since 1979. All of the programs in
GW’s Community Legal Clinics share a common goal — to provide
members of the community with critically needed legal services while
giving motivated law students the opportunity to experience the practical
application of law and to develop skills as negotiators, advocates,
and litigators within an exciting and supportive educational environment.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
