The RILC extends heartfelt congratulations and thanks to Trisha Akagi ’14, a partner at Cades Schutte LLP, on obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for her pro bono child client!

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is a form of immigration status for children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents. A child with SIJS is eligible to apply for lawful permanent residency when an immigrant visa becomes available to her.

Trisha represented her client in obtaining the predicate order from the Hawai’i family court, the SIJS grant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and ultimately the dismissal of the child’s deportation case from Immigration Court.

As this was Trisha’s first pro bono SIJS case, she was mentored by Cades Schutte partner Lisa Swartzfager, who along with other attorneys at Cades Schutte LLP have taken many pro bono SIJS cases for RILC, as well as Professor Yoo, starting from Professor Yoo’s time as a staff attorney at local nonprofit The Legal Clinic to now as the RILC Director.

We are so grateful for Trisha’s excellent, committed, and compassionate pro bono service and so excited for the client whose life she has changed. Mahalo nui loa, Trisha!