Yesterday, RILC students went to the Immigration Court to observe RILC attorney Kara Teng ’17 appear on behalf of three RILC clients in their master calendar hearings. In the first case, the Board of Immigration Appeals had remanded the case back to the Immigration Court. The students observed a status conference and the scheduling of the individual hearing in this case.

In the second case, the court took pleadings from our client. Thanks to Joshua Nam ’24 for working on a legal memo analyzing which forms of relief (defenses to removal) this client could be eligible for, as it informed the pleadings.

While there, RILC students Brissa Flores ’24 and Miah Bonilla ’25 were asked by the court clerks to assist in interpreting for a pro se Spanish-speaking respondent and a pro se Filipino respondent, respectively, who showed up to the court unexpectedly. Hawai’i needs more removal defense attorneys to address these #accesstojustice issues.