Ahilan T. Arulanantham

Now the advocacy and legal director of the ACLU of Southern California, Arulanantham has been instrumental in recent years in bringing cases that advance the rights of immigrants in detention, including unrepresented children.

Since 2014, Arulanantham has sought to establish the right to counsel for children in deportation proceedings. The class action stalled in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after judges there ruled they did not have jurisdiction to decide the case. J.E.F.M. v. Sessions, 15-35738 (9th Cir. 2014).

Arulanantham is seeking an en banc rehearing of the case. “Litigating this case for me personally has been quite stressful,” Arulanantham said, adding that he had met many of the children represented in the case who face deportation to countries plagued with endemic violence.

“The statistical disparity is very stark between your likelihood of success if you have a lawyer or if you don’t,” Arulanantham said. “Many children’s lives are at stake in just the decision of whether they get a lawyer or not.”

Another of Arulanantham’s cases takes aim at the right to a bail hearing for detained immigrants in deportation proceedings. Arulanantham said the suit, also a class action set for rearguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in October, is seeking automatic bond hearings for immigrants who have been detained for more than six months. Jennings v. Rodriguez, U.S. 15-1204 (2016).

“If you’ve been detained for six months and your case is still not over, that’s usually because you have a complex case and there’s something to be litigated,” he said, adding that both the Obama and Trump administrations had tacked toward increased immigrant detention.

“It’s widely acknowledged that being released on bond makes a huge difference in your chances for success,” Arulanantham said.

— Chase DiFeliciantonio