Immigration Law, Access to Justice, and Rethinking the ‘Criminal Alien’
Friday, April 4, 2025 at William H. Bowen School of Law
Schedule
8:30 a.m. – Complimentary continental breakfast is set up outside the Friday Courtroom
9:00 a.m. – Symposium begins, introductory comments
9:10 a.m. – Keynote Speech: César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Liberties at Ohio State University College of Law, Author of “Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the “Criminal Alien””
9:45 a.m. – Panel 1: Rethinking the “Criminal Alien”
- Kit Johnson – Professor of Law at University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Annie Bright – Visiting Assistant Professor, St. Mary’s University
- Matthew Vogel – Supervising Attorney at National Immigration Project
- Matthew Boaz – Assistant Professor of Law at University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law
11:15 a.m. – Break
11:30 a.m. – Panel 2: Immigration Law Reform and Improving Access to Justice
- Paul Schmidt – Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, retired Immigration Judge, and former Board of Immigration Appeals Chairman
- Allison McCarthy – Director of Refugee Clinic and Instructor of Law at Drake University Law School
- Elizabeth Jordan – Visiting Assistant Professor, Director of the Immigration Law & Policy Clinic at University of Denver Sturm College of Law
- Doug Smith – JD, Legal Programs Director of The Right to Immigration Institute and Dignidad, Lecturer in Legal Studies at Brandeis University
1:00 p.m. – Closing remarks and complimentary lunch
2:30 p.m. – Event ends
Keynote Speaker
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Liberties at Ohio State University College of Law and an immigration lawyer. His most recent book, Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the ‘Criminal Alien,’ serves as the point of departure for this symposium. Professor García Hernández is also the author of Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with locking Up Immigrants and Crimmigration Law, and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Time, The Nation, and many other venues.