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29-Year-Old Engineer-Turned-Lawyer Wins Landmark Immigration Case

A P Kamath in New York

After Jaishree Srikantiah graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, she did something many of her classmates did. She joined a private company; but after two years at Intel, she knew she was not going to be the happiest person working as an engineer.

"I was doing very well," says Jaishree, who earned her BS degree from the University of California at Berkeley, "But I also knew I was living the immigrant dreams of my parents." Her father is a nuclear engineer and mother, a computer engineer.

So, about three years ago, Jaishree decided to study law and enrolled at New York University's Law School.

"I have always wanted to argue, to write and do something that would have some impact," she says. Initially, she thought she would be involved in hi-tech-related cases -- "maybe with intellectual rights" -- but when she began clerking, she got drawn into immigration cases.

And she began to realise how immigrants' rights have been eroding and how the changes in laws in 1996 have made it easier to deport immigrants.

"I wanted to do something to expand the rights of immigrants," she says. "I am an immigrant myself. I was four when my parents moved to America." She thought a meaningful way to work for immigrant rights would be through the American Civil Liberties Union, the fiercely independent and often controversial organisation.

Last week she struck a significant victory for immigration rights, in the process making headlines across America, with USA Today, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle giving the best coverage.

The case involved three immigrants -- two from Vietnam and one from Laos -- who had served prison terms, but were still detained because their native countries won't take them back.

A panel of federal judges ruled last week against such detention.

"Detention by the INS [Immigration and Naturalisation Service] can be lawful only in aid of deportation," the judges ruled. "It is excessive to detain an alien indefinitely if deportation will never occur."

The release of the three was blocked when lawyers for the INS said they might challenge the ruling. Jaishree and her colleagues are bracing for the new fight.

"It was especially important because it's a unanimous ruling," said Jaishree, who also argued on behalf of the detainees. "We believe it will carry special weight across the country."

The three men are: Son Thai Huynh, 31, a convicted burglar from Vietnam who has spent nearly two years in prison; Khamseane Sivongxay, 30, a thief from Laos detained for two and a half years; and Bin Phan, 27, a thief and drug offender from Vietnam.

According to the INS and ACLU, about 140 other immigrants are being held indefinitely in Washington state and about 3,500 nationwide. Most of them have completed their prison terms and are from South-East Asia, Cuba, Russia and Eastern Europe.

"India is not on the list of countries that have refused to accept the deportees," Jaishree said. But what if tomorrow the Indian government refuses to take back someone, say a person who has a history of sexual crimes against children? she wonders. Should such a person be kept indefinitely behind bars?

As Jaishree savours her first big legal victory, she muses about other immigrants who are goaded into studying business, medicine or engineering.

"Go into the fields that you are passionate about," she says. "Think of the careers you want, and don't go after those which are fashionable."

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