Immigration can be seen as a headache, a blessing or something in between, depending on who you ask.
President Barack Obama views it as something that needs to be refined.
“I’ll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing,” he said in his last State of the Union address. “Fixing a broken immigration system,” was the first item that he listed.
Other politicians have also weighed in. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, have recently discussed tightening the rules around citizenship.
Many attorneys, however, say the intricate rules around immigrating have created a high demand for lawyers who are familiar with related legal issues.
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“The number of people who are facing deportation and detention, who have immigration cases, is very high right now because of the political climate,” says Alina Das, an associate professor of clinical law and co-director of the immigrant rights clinic at the law school at New York University.
The immigrant population in the U.S. grew from 31.1 million in 2000 to 40.8 million in 2012, according to the Center for American Progress.
Aspiring J.D.s who want to work in immigration law have a variety of jobs to choose from and can attend certain law programs that will prepare them for this line of work.
The law school at University of California–Los Angeles allows students to focus on immigration studies through a variety of classes and experiential learning offerings, says Hiroshi Motomura, a professor at the school.
Students can take classes in topics such as immigration law, asylum issues and immigrant rights, and get experience through the asylum clinic, among other clinical opportunities, he says. Clinics are hands-on learning opportunities that allow students to represent real clients while under the guidance of a law professional.
“A student who’s interested in studying immigration law should go someplace that has a combination of coursework, clinical opportunity and community connections,” Motomura says.
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Studying in a metropolitan region, such as New York or Miami, that has a lot of immigration activity can also be helpful, he says.
Los Angeles, Motomura says, has strong immigrant communities and organizations in place to help these groups. Some include the National Immigration Law Center and Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
Like UCLA, the law school at NYU also caters to students who are in a city where there are many immigrants and immigrant advocacy organizations.
The school has offered courses in current issues related to immigrant rights and immigration penalties and crimes, says Das. Through the J.D. program’s immigrant rights clinics, students can apply what they’ve learned in class.
“Students in that clinic are working both with individuals who are facing deportation and detention. They’re representing them in their immigration cases,” she says.
Once students have a solid background in immigration issues, they can practice immigration law in various ways.
“Our students have gone on to work for immigration legal service providers. That includes organizations like Legal Aid Society that have an immigration unit. But it also includes many public defender organizations,” Das says.
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Law graduates can also look to the private sector for opportunities.
“One place that people might go would be to law firms,” says David A. Martin, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and chair of the committee that oversees the school’s immigration law offerings and events.
Some graduates with a background in immigration may work at a firm that’s primarily oriented toward a general practice but has a department or team that focuses on immigration, he says. “It’s increasingly the case that large global law firms that want to provide a full range of services to their clients want to be sure to have immigration specialists on staff,” Martin says.
If the job offerings in the U.S. aren’t enough, students can also consider branching out.
“Consider also working abroad as an option,” says Magdale Labbe Henke, a graduate of the Fuchsberg Law Center at Touro College in New York. “There’s definitely a market for coming to Europe and other locations and practicing U.S. immigration law from this side of it,” says Henke, who opened a law firm in Germany after practicing in the U.S. for a few years.
“I’m really one of a handful of small firms in Germany exclusively devoted to U.S. immigration,” she says. Henke, who studied German in undergrad, helps a variety of people — from artists to athletes — come to the U.S.
Doing pro bono work at a law firm helped launch her career in immigration law, she says.
The best preparation for getting into immigration law is doing an internship or being a summer associate at a firm, which can expose students to immigration challenges they may not learn about at school, she says. Schools may largely focus on deportation and asylum, but a firm might help companies secure work visas for their employees, for example, she says.
When thinking about how law school will prepare them for the working world, law applicants should find out where students from the schools they’re considering find employment.
“Look at what jobs students get after graduation and how much that may align with your own hopes,” says Das.
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Pursue a J.D. for an Immigration Law, Policy Career originally appeared on usnews.com
