Fellow Profiles: Andrea Meza

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Dear Donor,

I would like to thank you for your generous contribution to Texas Law Fellowships and for supporting law students interested in public interest work. As you may or may not know, summer work is crucial training time for law students. It is an opportunity to learn how to do the public interest work that many students hope to continue in their legal career. Unfortunately, many legal service providers do not have funds to train new attorney hires, so the best thing that a recent graduate can offer is previous experience in the field, which is usually obtained during law school summers. However, most summer employment in the service field does not provide compensation. Therefore it is crucial that Texas Law Fellowships can continue to do so, so that law students won’t have to worry about how they will provide for their summer living expenses while doing public interest work.

I came to law school with the goal of becoming an immigration attorney. I completed my undergraduate education at Arizona State University, where I became friends with many students whose parents were immigrants or who themselves had been brought to the United States as infants. Some of them did not have legal status, and it seemed unfair to me that simply because my ancestors came to the U.S. at a time where immigration laws weren’t so strict that I was afforded so many more opportunities even though my immigrant peers were just as academically qualified as I was. Their unfortunate legal situation piqued my interest in immigration law.

After I graduated, I worked for a year at a small immigration law office. I gained a lot of experience, but the attorney for whom I worked did not have the time or resources to offer me in depth training about immigration law. Instead, I learned “on the job.” When I began law school at the University of Texas last year, I sought out immigration volunteer opportunities. I worked with immigrant victims of crime at Catholic Charities, and young people in the same legal situation as some of my undergraduate friends at clinics held by UT’s immigration clinic. However, these opportunities were in very specific areas of immigration law with which I had already had experience.

This summer, I worked for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Office of Chief Counsel at their San Antonio Field Office. USCIS is the component of the federal government that provides immigration benefits to applicants. Through this work I was able to gain more of an in depth overview of immigration law that I previously lacked. My supervisor was aware of my career goals, and provided reading assignments and research projects to help maximize my knowledge of immigration law. I was able to meet many officers in different operations of the field office, and speak with other employees of various components of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice through numerous conference calls. Additionally, I sat in on immigrant interviews and immigration court to see what my future clients will experience when I am an immigration practitioner. I was also able to learn about how USCIS works to ensure that practitioners who appear before the government provide competent legal services to their clients.

I am extremely grateful for the learning opportunity that I had this summer. I know because of it, I will be a better advocate for immigrants in the future. My experience this summer was not only an invaluable learning tool, but also one of the best work experiences that I have had in my life. I want to thank you for your generosity that made this possible. If it was not for Texas Law Fellowships, I would not have been able to accept an unpaid internship and I would not have the knowledge that I do now. I cannot thank you enough for your support, and I hope that you will consider supporting other law students in the future through Texas Law Fellowships.

Sincerely,
Andrea Meza

 

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