Immigration Law
As a border state and as a hub for international commerce, Texas offers many exciting and rewarding opportunities to practice immigration law. With a concentration in immigration law, you will have the skills to:
- represent noncitizens who are in deportation proceedings
- advise clients who want to bring family members into the United States
- assist businesses that want to hire foreign-born employees
- enforce immigration laws through work with a federal immigration agency
- advise noncitizen defendants about the immigration implications of criminal convictions
- help refugees (including unaccompanied children) with their asylum applications
- assist foreign-born victims of domestic violence or human trafficking to regularize their immigration status
- advise legislatures, nonprofits and advocacy groups about immigration policy
You may decide to specialize in immigration law, or you may practice in a different area that requires knowledge of immigration law, such as criminal law, workplace law or family law.
Core Courses
If you want to practice immigration law, you should take these courses:
- Immigration Law
- Administrative Law
- Special Topics: Immigrant Rights Clinic (starting Spring 2017)
Recommended Courses
These courses are also relevant to the practice of immigration law, depending on the specific areas of immigration law that interest you:
- Employment Law
- Employment Discrimination
- Family Law
- Domestic Violence seminar
- ADR Survey: Negotiation, Mediation & Arbitration
- Negotiation Theory & Practice Practicum
- Trial Advocacy Practicum
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure
- Sentencing Law and Policy Seminar
- Public International Law
- National Security Law
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Race & the Law seminar
- Special Topics: Spanish for Lawyers
Externships
Students interested in immigration law have participated in prior externships with:
To learn about current immigration law externship opportunities, contact Externship Program Director Cecily Becker at cbecker@law.tamu.edu.
Student Organizations
Immigration Law Initiative (Professor Huyen Pham, advisor)