Sep. 12, 2013
Ahilan T. Arulanantham
See more on Ahilan T. ArulananthamAmerican Civil Liberties Union of Southern California | Los Angeles | Practice type: Litigation
As deputy legal director at the ACLU of Southern California, Arulanantham works on two issues that once seemed disparate: immigration and national security.
But in a post-9/11 world, he explained, they're especially intertwined.
"If you look over time, immigration enforcement policy is used as a mechanism for the government to pursue its national security ends, and that continues to this day," he explained.
One of the key immigration cases Arulanantham worked on over the past year was Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, a class action lawsuit in which Arulanantham, as co-lead counsel, argued that immigrant detainees with mental disabilities deserved representation in deportation proceedings. Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, CV10-2211 (C.D. Cal., filed March 2010).
Arulanantham, whose interest in immigration issues comes from his own family's immigrant background, said that "anyone who paid any attention to what the detention and the deportation system does to people with mental disabilities would be very moved by" the case.
When U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled in April that immigrant detainees with mental disabilities must be appointed legal representation by the government, Arulanantham was elated. He smiled continuously for three consecutive days, he said.
"The government, a few weeks later, began appointing lawyers for the first time in history in immigration proceedings," he said. "That was exciting."
Soon after, Arulanantham heard about a lawyer he knew being appointed to represent an immigrant detainee with a mental disability.
It was satisfying, he said, "to know that as a result of this case, this person is not getting second-class justice, that they are getting a competent lawyer who can represent them well."
- Hamed Aleaziz
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