Time Flies
I cannot believe I have been working at the EOIR for six weeks now and only have five more weeks until the internship ends. This internship is flying by. To me, the time flying by illustrates how much I enjoy this internship. I look forward to analyzing case information each day in order to write an informed and well-thought-out decision.
Not too much has happened this past week except for the fact that I have officially completed my third and fourth decision – meaning that the judges each accepted four of my decision drafts and have begun the process of queuing them up to be submitted as the official decision. Apparently, I am writing decisions more quickly than Attorney Advisors, at least they are joking around about how they cannot believe I am already writing my fifth decision. It makes me very happy to know that I am proving myself to be a good decision as an intern to hire. The fifth decision I am working on is more complicated than the first four as the case is thinly straddling the line between being able to grant and having them be a denial. I will work hard analyzing case law and speaking with my supervisor, as well as the judge whose decision I am writing, the figure out how to make the decision a grant if possible.
On a travel note, I took a break from Williamsburg this weekend and visited Washington, D.C. I was last there about four years ago, but it was February, so it was enjoyable to visit in the summer – despite the heat, which was almost unbearable. I also did the three-hour drive to D.C. from Williamsburg with someone who had never been to D.C. before, thus I enjoyed showing them around and being a tourist, visiting the must-see buildings in D.C., such as the White House and the Capitol. Despite the enjoyment of the trip, I learned that I will never drive in D.C. again; even though I stayed overnight and thus parked my car using the hotel valet service, just getting into and out of the city alone gave me a lot of anxiety. The most important part of the trip, in my opinion, was visiting the Department of Justice headquarters; it reminded me of how incredible of an opportunity it is to intern at the EOIR Richmond Immigration Adjudication Center.