More Student Interest In Immigration Law

There’s an increased interest among law students in immigration law.
A new report by WBUR attributed the rise in interest in immigration law to President Trump’s aggressive stance on immigration enforcement.
SCHOOLS ADDRESS DEMAND
At schools, like Northeastern University, new clinics have sprouted to help address student interest in the field of immigration law.
“Northeastern looked and saw how many students were passionate about what was happening and decided to set into motion the immigrant justice clinic,” Hemanth Gundavaram, a law professor at Northeastern, tells WBUR.
At Northeastern, Gundavaram says, there are more and more students who are interested in pursuing immigration law because they see the direct effect Trump’s policies are having in their own personal lives.
“We’ve had people who have been undocumented themselves, students who had family members who are undocumented, many students who are immigrants themselves,” he tells WBUR. “So I think it’s a very personal thing for a lot of students.”
INCREASED INTEREST IN SOCIAL JUSTICE
Back in 2017, Gallup and the Association of American Law Schools polled more than 22,000 college students and over 2,700 law students to determine their motivation for entering law school.
The survey found that “advocating for social change” is a top factor for many students interested in pursuing law school.
“Public-spirited and civic-minded motivations led the list of reasons, and these are the students that are applying to law school today,” James Greif, communications director for the association, tells WBUR. “Increased interest in pursuing a career in immigration law seems to be part of this overall trend.”
Sources: WBUR, Association of American Law Schools