Zilberman takes over immigration law clinic

FAYETTEVILLE — Students interested in immigration law have been “very attuned to what was going on in the world,” said Beth Zilberman, new director of the University of Arkansas School of Law’s Immigration Law Clinic.

Immigration and asylum policies under

President Donald Trump have sparked street protests and activism.

Zilberman said her job remains focused on students.

“At the end of the day, it really just is a matter of teaching the students what the law is and how to apply it to individual cases,” said Zilberman.

She arrives in Fayetteville after working for the last two years as a fellow at the immigration clinic at Michigan State University College of Law, where she said she taught students and oversaw casework.

Legal clinics at law schools provide free services to clients while giving students an opportunity to work on cases and projects under the supervision of faculty. UA has seven such clinics, with students able to work on topics such as human trafficking and criminal practice in addition to immigration.

Zilberman spoke about wanting to ramp up the UA immigration clinic’s activity after a period of transition following the departure of Elizabeth Young, the clinic’s first director when it began in 2008. Young left in 2016 to become an immigration judge in California.

“The UA Law Clinic has not been very active in recent months,” said Frank Head, director of Catholic Charities Immigration Services of Springdale.

At the same time, the area has seen an increasing demand for immigration legal services, said Drew Devenport, an immigration attorney in Springdale with the Davis Law Firm.

“We’ve certainly seen an uptick this year compared to where we were last year,” Devenport said.

As an example, he said he’s working on six cases involving removal proceedings “started within the last six months and were all related to minor traffic violations.”

Washington and Benton county sheriff’s offices participate in what’s known as the 287(g) program, a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gives delegated authority for immigration enforcement, according to the agency’s website.

After people are being stopped for “simple traffic violations,” Devenport said, “we’re seeing a lot more being placed into removal proceedings” whose outcome can be an order to leave the United States.

Devenport led the clinic following Young’s departure, doing so while still working as a practicing attorney. Devenport, now an adjunct member of the law faculty, he said, earned his law degree from UA in 2012 and also participated in the clinic as a student.

Kristen Castro earned her law degree from UA in May and took part in the immigration clinic this fall and spring, when it was overseen by visiting professor Christina Pollard.

“For me, personally, the most meaningful part was getting to make a real-life impact with the clients that I worked with,” Castro said.

Clients included domestic violence victims without legal resident status, she said. Working with Peace at Home Family Shelter, Casto said she helped them work toward what’s known as U non-immigrant status, which allows victims of certain crimes to temporarily stay in the United States. She also helped people seeking asylum,

she said.

Last year, the clinic had three to four student attorneys and a client waiting list, Castro said.

“Hopefully they will be able to return the immigration clinic to what it was maybe a few years ago when they had more student attorneys,” Castro said.

Zilberman, 34, earned her law degree from Boston College. She studied political science and international relations at the University of California, Davis.

Before working at Michigan State University, she worked as a fellow at Boston College Law School Immigration Clinic.

Zilberman also previously held a fellowship with Equal Justice Works, working with minors facing deportation after journeying to the United States without parents, according to the Washington-based nonprofit organization. She provided legal representation to girls who were survivors of violence, according to Equal Justice Works.

Her official start date at UA was June 1, and she’s earning a salary of $105,000 as an assistant professor of law, UA School of Law communications director Darinda Sharp said in an email. Young, at the time she left in 2016, earned $151,852, a UA spokesman has said. Pollard earned a salary of $105,000.

Zilberman, who speaks Spanish, said four to five student attorneys have signed up to work as part of the clinic this fall, a bit lower than the six to eight who might participate in the future.

Zilberman