Young v. Holder (Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions)

The Immigrants’ Rights Clinic filed an amicus brief in the en banc case of Young v. Holder.  This brief was based on arguments and model briefing developed by Katie Austin (‘13), Becca Kline (‘13), and Sue Wang (‘12).  Katie, Becca, and Sue collaborated with the Immigrants’ Defense Project in New York to write a practice advisory developing complex legal arguments for how to establish eligibility for cancellation of removal, which is a discretionary form of relief from removal for noncitizens who have lived in the United States for an extended period of time and who do not have serious criminal convictions.  In a split decision, a majority of the en banc court agreed with one of the principal arguments that Katie, Becca, and Sue developed, namely that courts are limited in looking only at certain reliable documents when considering the eligibility of noncitizens for cancellation of removal.