Reflections of an EOIR Legal Intern
How have I completed my internship? These past eleven weeks have been incredible. I could not imagine having a more rewarding and skill-developing experience. In the end, I wrote nine decisions, six of which were grants of relief from removal and three of which were denials – asylum (2 decisions), withholding of removal (2 decisions), CAT (1 decision), cancellation of removal (3 decisions), and I-751 waiver (1 decision). Thus, I had a hand in six noncitizens being able to continue to live in the US and am partly responsible for generations of their families being able to grow up in the US. I still have not wrapped my head around that fact; I think it will take some time. However, no matter what I do and where I go in the future, I can now say I have worked somewhere where I helped to change someone’s life.
The ninth and final decision I wrote was a denial for asylum, withholding of removal, convention against torture, and cancellation of removal. The respondent applied based on all the above forms of relief and unfortunately did not have sufficient evidence to obtain any relief. This was a tough decision because it could have gone either way; I knew it would create hardship for the family. I spoke to the judge for whom I was writing the decision and we both agreed that the decision could have been a grant for cancellation of removal if only the respondent’s lawyer presented the necessary evidence – which I assume was available. Writing this final decision showed me the importance of competently putting together a respondent’s application, ensuring all the necessary evidence is presented, even if the documents pile three feet high. Despite the outcome of the case, it was a great decision on which to end the internship because I was able to apply what I had learned throughout the semester from doing just an asylum case or just a cancellation of removal case. I am proud of the decisions I submitted and the skills I developed through the internship – I now more confidently can write persuasive decisions for judges and supervisors.
I redacted the sensitive information from each of the nine decisions and sent them to my school email so that I can use them as writing samples when applying to post-graduate jobs and as a reference when working at the immigration clinic this coming semester. This leads to what I have learned and realized about my future career from this internship. I will be applying to the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Department of Justice. I enjoyed my internship so much this summer that I will rank the Executive Office of Immigration Review as my first choice of where I would like to work – with the FBI and National Security Division as my second and third choices because aside from immigration, I am interested in law related to national security and terrorism, particularly when the issue is transnational. My supervisor and a judge I worked with said they would be my references. I hope the work I have done this summer and the references I accumulated will help me to at least be offered an interview for the Honors program. From this internship, I learned I love writing decisions and working behind the scenes of a court. I could continue that as a career, if possible, but hopefully combined with more traveling and international law opportunities – this could happen because I have a potential internship offer with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for after I graduate.
I ended my last day with lunch with my supervisor and a judge. Right after I turned in my security cards and was about to walk out the door, my supervisor gave me a plant and thank you note. I lucked out with my supervisor and the doors this internship has opened for me. I recommend this internship to any other law student who wants to know what it is like to work for the federal government while getting their foot in the door at the Department of Justice.