Two WVU Law students to argue case before the Seventh Circuit court in Chicago
Two students from the West Virginia University College of Law will argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago on Thursday (Sept. 24).
Third-year law students Kirk Auvil and Phillip Wachowiak are representing a Honduran national in Rufino Antonio Estrada-Martinez v. Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General of the United States of America.
Estrado-Martinez is a client of the WVU Immigration Law Clinic.
The clinic is appealing a U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision that reversed a ruling by an immigration judge to grant Estrada-Martinez withholding of removal. In immigration law, withholding of removal protects individuals from being deported to a country where they risk persecution.
In reversing the immigration judge’s earlier decision, the BIA determined that Estrada-Martinez was convicted of a serious crime in Honduras.
“We argue that the BIA applied the incorrect legal standard when it made its determination about Mr. Estrada-Martinez,” said Michael Blumenthal, visiting professor of law and co-director of the Immigration Law Clinic.
The clinic has been working on this case for about a year, according to Blumenthal.
To watch Auvil and Wachowiak in court, click here for a live webcast of the Seventh Circuit’s proceedings beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
-WVU-
jj/09/23/15
CONTACT: James Jolly, College of Law
304.293.7439, James.Jolly@mail.wvu.edu
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