I had the pleasure today of calling a client to tell him he doesn’t need us anymore.

When the client came to us, he faced a threat to his life as harrowing as any I’ve ever seen. If returned to his home country, his political opinion almost certainly would have cost him his life.

Because the case got scheduled in July and August, when we don’t have students in the Clinic, I worked directly with him to prepare and file his case. Throughout the process, he impressed me every day with his thoughtfulness, intelligence, responsibility, and, above all, resilience in the face of circumstances I could barely fathom.

The judge granted his application for relief from removal. We helped the client apply for work authorization, which took longer than expected, but finally arrived this week. We discussed some final questions and I told him we will close his file.

Migration and Resilience

In politics, we hear a lot about “worthy” immigrants. According to this way of thinking, our immigration policy should privilege million-dollar investors and Nobel Prize winners (or at least Ph.D. researchers and professional athletes).

In my experience working with asylum-seekers, however, I’m convinced this policy fails at its own goals. Most of our clients don’t have Ph.Ds (though a few do). The circumstances of their lives generally didn’t allow for that. But the decision to leave your home, move to another country, and start over far away from everything you know takes gumption. It takes character, intelligence, resilience, and a confidence that you’re going to make it despite the odds.

Our clients in the Immigration Clinic never cease to amaze me. If we want to attract extraordinary, courageous, capable individuals to the United States, we should look no further than those who had the wherewithal to come to our shores and request asylum.