“It’s extremely stressful, but we were built for this and I think we’re needed more now than ever,” UNLV Immigration Clinic Director Michael Kagan said.

The organization is now having to navigate requests for help in Southern Nevada’s immigrant community. Kagan told Nevada Week that calls have tripled since the end of last year. The pro bono clinic handles a variety of requests, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA renewals and representing adults in deportation proceedings. The clinic also represents some of the most vulnerable clients like children who came to this country unaccompanied by a parent. Kagan says those children have experienced unfamiliar situations recently.

“The kids are under more threat too. Couple weeks ago, many of our kids that we have been serving for a while were visited by FBI agents at their homes,” Kagan said. “These are kids who in many cases don’t even have the most mild discipline records at their middle schools. Getting teams of FBI agents knocking on their door asking who lives here.”

"We’re only ... seeing the foreshadowing of what might come 

if we don’t get a handle on this very soon." 

- Michael Kagan, Director, UNLV Immigration Clinic

Kagan says at this time, these children are not being arrested. He says many of the people Immigration and Customs Enforcement have targeted so far have serious criminal records. Others have minor records, or orders of removal from many years ago. Kagan says there are also people targeted who have no known record at all.

“I think in many ways it has been more indiscriminate, more harsh, and more unrestrained than I expected, and we’re only beginning. So I think we’re only still seeing the foreshadowing of what might come if we don’t get a handle on this very soon,” he said. 

Kagan stresses that during this time of uncertainty in the immigration community, due process matters. It’s something his team works with clients on to make sure their cases are handled fairly.

“I think people across the country are seeing now why process matters. That we can’t have a situation where a government official can just write an allegation on a piece of paper and suddenly whisk you off to a foreign prison. But that is literally what we’re fighting against right here,” he said. 

"If anyone can get exempted from the process, 

none of us are safe." 

- Michael Kagan, Director, UNLV Immigration Clinic

“People can be accused of heinous murders in this country and we pride ourselves on having a fair system to adjudicate that. I think people who are going to work every day and raising their families, whether they made a mistake here there or not, at least we should all get processed. And the danger for us all, if anyone can get exempted from the process, none of us are safe, because the government can lay the same allegation against you and me.”

Kagan says it’s an issue that’s very concerning for the students he teaches and works with at the UNLV Immigration Clinic, with some wondering if they should still work towards law careers. He says he’s advising them to keep moving forward with their education, and that legal professions are more important than ever.

“I think we in the legal profession have to stand up. Not everyone has but some have. Sure we serve clients, people need to make a living. All that goes on. But sometimes it’s our job to defend democracy. And I think we need to do that locally and nationally,” he said.