No Human Is Illegal: An Attorney On the Front Lines of the Immigration War

FEATURING J. J. MILLIGAN SEPÚLVEDA – US immigration courts in January 2019 turned away hundreds of people who showed up for their scheduled government-issued appearances. It is part of an on-going phenomenon that immigrants arrive at courts with government documents in hand saying they should appear only to be told that they don’t have a scheduled appointment. In the January instance courts cited the government shutdown and harsh winter weather for the confusion over court dates.

Much of the rhetoric on immigration focuses on the crisis at the border. But the experiences of undocumented immigrants is more often marked by endless waiting, lack of information, invisibility, and a sense of helplessness. Among the only resources guiding them through our cruel and capricious legal system where court rooms are backlogged and judges are in short supply, are armies of overworked immigration attorneys.

Relating the experiences of immigrants through the eyes of an immigration lawyer is J. J. Mulligan Sepúlveda, author of the new book ‘No Human Is Illegal: An Attorney On the Front Lines of the Immigration War’.

J. J. Mulligan Sepúlveda, an immigration attorney working at UC Davis School of Law’s Immigration Law Clinic. He is a former Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow and Fulbright Scholar. His new book is called ‘No Human Is Illegal: An Attorney On the Front Lines of the Immigration War’.