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Alfonso Maldonado

Issue Deportation Defense
Host agency Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Sponsored by California ChangeLawyers
Location Riverside, CA
Law School Western State Law
Fellowship Class 2018

The Project

Alfonso works as a Rapid Response lawyer to quickly respond to enforcement actions  for immigrants who are swept up by ICE. He creates and implements procedures, protocols and guidelines for rapid response to enforcement actions, with an eye towards utilizing his deportation defense expertise.  He also builds community partnerships that serve as an advanced warning system of enforcement actions and identify affected community members who need legal services.

About Alfonso

During law school, Alfonso caught wind of the case of Juan Carlos, an undocumented father of three. Juan was given faulty information by a judge and faced immediate deportation as a result. Alfonso took on Juan's case as his first ever client and successfully convinced the Ninth Circuit to waive the deportation order.

For Alfonso, the case was personal. He himself is an undocumented person, a DREAMER who was brought to America at the age of five. Lawyers like Alfonso--lawyers who come from the struggle--are critical because they have contextual understanding of their clients lives, language, and culture. 

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California ChangeLawyersSM (formerly California Bar Foundation) is a statewide foundation that empowers the next generation of lawyers, judges, & activists.