Immigration Law, Access to Justice, and Rethinking the ‘Criminal Alien’

Friday, April 4, 2025 at William H. Bowen School of Law

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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 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: Conviction to Deportation: Barriers to Justice and Reform

  • Paul Schmidt – Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, retired Immigration Judge, and former Board of Immigration Appeals Chairman
  • Elizabeth Jordan – Visiting Assistant Professor, Director of the Immigration Law & Policy Clinic at University of Denver Sturm College of Law
  • Jonathan Ross – U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas
  • Matthew Vogel – Supervising Attorney at National Immigration Project

1:00 p.m. – Closing remarks and complimentary lunch

2:30 p.m. – Event ends

Keynote Speaker

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández

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.

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Speaker Bios