Welcome
Raha Jorjani
Contact Information
rjorjani@ucdavis.edu
530-754-5892
Education
- J.D., City University of New York Law School 2005
- B.A. Peace and Conflict Studies, UC Berkeley 2000
Staff Attorney
Raha Jorjani is currently a Supervising Attorney and Lecturer in the Immigration Law Clinic. Since beginning her legal practice, Raha has defended immigrants from detention and deportation before the Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and Federal Courts including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Raha focuses primarily on the intersection between Immigration and Criminal Law. In addition to representing immigrants detained primarily on the basis of criminal convictions, Raha regularly advises and trains public defenders on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Prior to joining the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic in Fall 2007, Raha was a Staff Attorney with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona where she directly represented immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security in addition to providing pro-se legal assistance to hundreds of detainees who could not afford legal representation.
Full Biography...Before joining the Florence Project, Raha worked with the Immigrant Defense Project and Families For Freedom in New York, investigating the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. She coordinated one of the first trainings for Rikers Law Library clerks in immigration consequences of criminal convictions and the immigration detention process. She also introduced materials into the law libraries that would help immigrants incarcerated at Rikers address and consider issues in their immigration and criminal cases.
In May 2007, with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, Raha prepared the briefing paper on Mandatory, Prolonged, and Indefinite Detention that was submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants. She also published a Working Paper on Deportation and Detention for the Iranian American Bar Association in 2008. Raha continues to advocate for the rights of detained immigrants in legal, academic, community, and international forums across the country.
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