While immigration raids target Los Angeles communities, attorneys at the International Institute are racing against seven-day deportation deadlines to save clients who fled persecution from countries like Afghanistan and Iran.

Hadley Hall Meares reports for Public Press:

Most days, Edita Ghushchyan, managing attorney at the International Institute of Los Angeles, maintains a punishing schedule of defending clients pro-bono against forced deportation.

Originally from Armenia, Ghushchyan came to California in 2003 when she was 13 years old, after her parents were granted asylum in America. She joined the legal team at the institute in 2019, where she has fostered close relationships with clients, who today face an increasingly hostile climate.

Ghushchyan said her workload has dramatically increased under President Donald Trump’s second administration, a statement born out by others in the field. Immigration attorneys across the country have also found their work increasingly scrutinized and curtailed by government actions, including a memo released by the Trump administration in March directing the attorney general to review, sanction and act against immigration attorneys whose practices they don’t approve of.

“Obviously, people who are in deportation — and people who are not in deportation proceedings — are incredibly scared,” she said. “It has become very challenging to navigate, to give advice and guide people because things change sometimes by the hour.”

A flurry of executive actions enacted by the Trump administration in January have also caused constant chaos in the lives of institute clients. Clients’ parole and work permits have been cancelled, forcing them to reapply even though they already had jobs. Mass emails have been sent to thousands of immigrants and refugees (and sometimes even U.S. citizens, including a U.S.-born immigration lawyer) giving them seven days to self-deport and terminating their parole.

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