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Lawyer burnout: A Thread
In 1999, I received a fellowship to work at the Florence Project to develop their first children’s detention project. I moved from Oakland, CA to Florence, AZ and rented a home in the middle of the Sonoran Desert with my amazing husband.
In 1999, I received a fellowship to work at the Florence Project to develop their first children’s detention project. I moved from Oakland, CA to Florence, AZ and rented a home in the middle of the Sonoran Desert with my amazing husband.
There were only a handful of lawyers representing detained children in those years. The children were detained in Globe, Arizona in a horrific juvenile jail, and an old church near Coolidge, AZ. In jail, kids were stipped searched, put in restraint chairs and held in solitary.
With the help of firms, we sued on so many issues, and former INS said I was the most hated lawyer in AZ, second only to Judy Flanagan. My only INS award, and I got second place. The battles were so nasty that it included retired IJ Richardson sanctioning INS for its obstruction.
After two years, my husband ran interference. I was sitting at my computer at 2 a.m. trying to find medical care in Honduras for a young girl who had opted to be deported. Doctors had given her only days to live. You see, no lawyer can separate work from life when aiding children
Working with detained children was so intense that it also impacted my fertility. Something few lawyers will discuss. I decided to shift from the children’s detention work to working with adult detainees. The children’s project was taken over by Shiu-Ming Cheer (a legal giant).
This is important because we must all recognize this work is not about us and we must recognize when it is our time. We must dig deep, fight the savior mentality, and be open to change.
I stayed out of working with detained children for the next decade. I also had two beautiful sons during my hiatus. But then, I reopened the door under the Obama admin when allies requested we file habeas petitions for children locked in Yolo County Jail. And we did.
Part of the habeas was an individual challenge under the Flores Settlement Agreement para 24. The feds argued Flores had been superseded by a statute called the TVPRA. Carlos Holguin asked for assistance with a motion to enforce. We collected evidence and filed to enforce Flores.
My clinic came on board Flores to assist with kids in ORR custody around 2016. Kids in ORR custody are approximately 90% of all the class members under the Flores Settlement. Judge Gee granted our motion to enforce Flores para 24 on Trump’s Inauguration Day.
At stake had been children’s right to bond hearings and judicial review of their detention under the Settlement. The government appealed and asked for expedited briefing. We were given appx 2 weeks to complete briefing after the Ninth Circuit stayed J. Gee’s order.
On July 5, 2017, we won the appeal. And Flores would remain in tact to protect children’s rights. I am extremely proud of the students’ work on this and feel it was instrumental in ensuring Flores’ survival for Trump years.
Under the Trump admin, the students, and our legal team visited countless ORR children’s detention centers in Texas, Florida, California, Arkansas, Virginia, etc.
We even made special trips to visit children in hospitals and trans children who were deciding whether to assist us with litigation: a very hard choice for children to publicly fight the feds and come out, all bundled in one.
Our site inspections of ORR detention revealed forced sedations, children in out of network psychiatric detention centers, unnecessary placements in secure detention, delays in family reunifications and so we filed along with NCYL a blockbuster motion to enforce Flores.
We won part and lost part of the motion on July 30, 2018 Our legal team didn’t give up. We then filed Lucas R v Azar, a five claim class action seeking to give procedural due process, and access to counsel for children in ORR custody. It’s a huge case with high stakes.
Then Fall 2018, ICE and ORR put forth proposed regulations to terminate The Settlement. We then filed a Motion to Enforce and sought an injunction to stop publication of the *proposed* regulations under an anticipatory breach of contract. It was held in abeyance by the Court.
Then the CBP nightmare hit. I was asked to help even tho it wasn’t ORR related. We filed for sanctions and a TRO. Thanks to volunteers, we gathered 100s of declarations. Some days I was getting 2k+ emails. The case was ordered into confidential mediation where it remains today.
Then weeks later, DHS and HHS published the final regulations, in an attempt to override The Settlement. I think over 100k comments were received. We filed another motion for contempt and motion to enforce Flores. 100s of amici weighed in.
The importance of the regulations was that they would enshrine family detention and override the Settlement if we lost. Our legal team worked insane, intense hours. J. Gee enjoined the regulations in their entirety. The case remains pending on appeal.
Meantime: the children, our students and local community succeeded in closing down arguably one of the worst children’s detention centers in the USA: the Yolo County Juvenile Jail. Our local community had protested the jail for years.
Then COVID hit. We filed a TRO in both Flores and Lucas R. The Flores litigation remains pending and I truly hope all families are released. There is no humane government that imprisons anyone, let alone children, during a pandemic.
UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic decided it was time to focus its energy and resources on Lucas R which heads to a summary judgment phase soon, and then to a six week trial in January. We have stepped down from Flores and I welcome and have always welcomed new NGOs.
I also have children and limited time before they leave home, a sister who is battling breast cancer, and a mom battling Alzheimer’s. The other night, my husband tapped on my shoulder again. He reminded me of my limits.
I have no answers, but in some ways, maybe there need to be terms limits on children’s detention work. Seen my students and other advocates in this field have breakdowns too many times to count. The responsibility is intense. The visuals and sounds don’t escape you. Ever.
But at the end of the day, the only question on the table is: what is best for the children?
It is freedom. It is family.
It is freedom. It is family.
