King Hall Faculty, Students and Alumni Lead Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Workshop in Sacramento
King Hall faculty, students, and alumni provided assistance to 95 young people seeking to remain in the United States and work legally under the Obama administration's new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The highly successful workshop took place at the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento on September 29, and was a collaborative effort between the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), and the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento. The effort was planned and organized by Amagda Perez, Director of the Immigration Law Clinic and Executive Director of CRLAF.
The DACA program allows undocumented immigrants between the ages of 15 and 31 who were brought into the United States before the age of 16 and have no criminal record to apply to remain in the country and work legally. Under the supervision of Professor Leticia Saucedo and CRLAF attorneys Kristina McKibben, Santiago Avila-Gomez and Shannon Going, King Hall students assisted DACA applicants with document preparation and organization of supporting documents. Applicants were then referred to American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) volunteer attorneys for final review of the entire DACA packet.
Many of the volunteer attorneys are King Hall alums, including Fatima Alloo '11, Anel Carrasco '11, Amparo Cid '10, Theo Cuison '11, Sarah Farnsworth '07, Kirsten Hill '04, Christina Lee '03, Aida Macedo '11, Marien Sorensen '97, Julie Turner-Lloveras '99, Elica Vafaie '11, Mary Waltermire '95, and Su Yon Yi '10. AILA attorneys Ann Block, Tami Castillo, Ann Kanter, Michael Schoenleber, and Johnny Walker, together with Immigration Law Clinic Staff Attorney Raha Jorjani and Civil Rights Clinic Staff Attorney Carter "Cappy" White, also lent their expertise providing final review of applications.
Immigration Clinic Administrative Assistant Martha Jaime, CRLAF Director of Community Education and Outreach Juanita Ontiveros, and CRLAF Immigration Project Assistant Sergio Pérez expertly registered the 95 applicants and provided them with all the necessary documents for the workshop. Pacific McGeorge School of Law Dean Jay Mootz and Pacific McGeorge Immigration advocates Raissa Morris and Brian Lopez skillfully assisted applicants with the final checkout process. Mexican Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez made the consulate available for the DACA workshop. Consul Alejandro Celorio helped to organize and lead the workshop, and consulate staff members Guillermo Marquez, Miguel Ramos, and Carlos Otero offered technical assistance throughout the day.