Tucked inside a sprawling office building, Virginia Gordon, ’14, toils with quiet determination on one of the nation’s most bitterly contested frontiers.
At the Arlington Immigration Court and Headquarters Immigration Court, Gordon is one of five clerks serving eight judges who decide the fate of thousands of immigrants living in D.C., Virginia and beyond who face deportation.
Gordon got the job through the uber-competitive Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program, thanks to the leadership skills she’s demonstrated through her involvement with immigration, human rights and refugee advocacy, some of which preceded her legal education.
“When I was coming to law school, immigration issues were what drew me,” said Gordon, a former physics teacher and Peace Corps volunteer who worked in Belize and completed one co-op placement with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and another with the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation.
Throughout law school, Gordon never forgot the Belizeans she met who were subject to human trafficking.
“Every exam, I was thinking of those girls,” she said, “I was doing this for them.”
At the immigration court, Gordon is helping with an enormous backlog of cases, most of which judges decide from the bench. But in cases where the facts are complex, the judges will task Gordon or one of the other clerks to conduct research and draft opinions.
“It’s like solving a puzzle, every time you have a new case,” said Gordon. “Each person and each situation is unique. I enjoy the problem solving aspect.”
Gordon’s prolonged immersion in the legally complex and emotionally charged world of immigration has given her a nuanced perspective.
“I think the neutral side is the best side for me,” Gordon said. “I see the evidence from both sides.”
Agreeing that immigration reform is sorely needed, Gordon lamented the fact that much of the current discussion focuses excessively on the question of border security.
“It is lawful to come to the border and ask for asylum. That is within our immigration law,” she said.
Yet despite criticism by some of the detention and deportation of immigrants who are in the U.S. lawfully but committed crimes, Gordon sees no simple solutions.
“Our criminal laws are one area that we should look at,” Gordon said. “It’s complicated and hard to work through. It’s hard for immigrants and defense attorneys to understand the consequences.”
Adding to the confusion, she explained, is the fact that different circuit courts have adopted different views on how to handle criminal matters involving immigrants.
It’s lucky that Gordon finds the work so interesting, since she has accepted a permanent job in the immigration arena through the DOJ Attorney General’s Honors Program.
When her clerkship concludes, Gordon will begin working as a trial attorney with the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation, where she completed her first co-op placement.
There, she will defend decisions made by immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals in matters that go before various circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals.