Jennifer Gordon was quoted in an ABA Journal news article about increased student interest in immigration law post President Trump’s travel ban.
Trump had made immigration a signature issue of his presidential campaign, calling for sweeping measures that included deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and construction of a wall across its entire southern border.
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The legal and political furor set off by the travel ban and related orders has had a profound impact on U.S. law schools and students …. Interest in immigration law is surging, and schools are ramping up programs and staffing to meet soaring demand from students and immigrants.
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In the long term, the trend also could birth a new wave of immigration law specialists. … Evidence that immigration law has gained a new cachet on campuses isn’t hard to find. At the Fordham University School of Law, for example, enrollment for the introductory immigration law course this fall more than tripled to 90 students from last year.
“We had to move to a larger room,” says Jennifer Gordon, a professor who teaches the class at Fordham. “Student demand jumped enormously.”
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Getting a better grasp of immigration law at a time when such issues are making headlines is driving interest at a basic level. “But the major motivation for students is to learn something that they can translate into helping immigrants and refugees who are affected by the president’s executive orders and policies,” says Gordon, an expert on immigration and labor law.