Dear TLF Donors,
Thank you very much for your support of Texas Law Fellowships. I recently completed my clerkship at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Houston, Texas and will soon begin my third year of law school.
Over the course of my time at USCIS, I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities, work on a diverse set of projects, and be exposed to the inside operations of the immigration system. For instance, I observed interviews for visa, naturalization, and asylum applications; observed a naturalization ceremony, where over 2,000 new citizens took their oath of allegiance to the United States; discussed various aspects of immigration law with my supervisors; reviewed appeals from denials of family-based visa petitions; and conducted legal research and wrote memorandums on a variety of issues.
In addition, I met with attorneys from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), “sister agencies” to USCIS, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the immigration system and laws. During the summer, I even had a chance to visit immigration court and observe some of the ICE trial attorneys’ cases, both at the downtown court facility and the court at the detention center north of Houston. It was very interesting to see how all the pieces of and agencies within the system interact and are interrelated.
In sum, this experience has been incredibly enriching, and I look forward to continue to pursue my interest in immigration this fall by participating in the UT Law Immigration Clinic.
I greatly appreciate your support, and, without the fellowship, it would have been very difficult to accept and participate in this exciting clerkship. Thank you very much again for your aid.
Sincerely,
Karen Baker