USC Gould Law students protest Homeland Security recruiters at virtual job fair
The University of Southern California Gould School of Law. (Photo by Pbgr, PD-user, via Wikimedia Commons)
A virtual recruiting event hosted by the University of Southern California Gould School of Law will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, despite an open letter circulated by students protesting the inclusion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
“We condemn the decision-makers who approved ICE’s participation and the institutional response that disclaimed responsibility,” the letter states. “USC Gould possessed the authority to deny ICE recruitment access and affirmatively chose not to exercise it.”
Postings on the law school’s career management platform lists interview times with ICE and CPB for Feb. 10, according to a story by Morning, Trojan, an independent newsletter for the University of Southern California community. Morning, Trojan adds that ICE is recruiting interns and full-time hires responsible for “litigating all removal cases including those against criminal aliens,” while CBP searches for an unpaid intern to conduct research and “may have the opportunity to tour facilities where CBP officers inspect passengers and cargo.”
Franita Tolson, the dean of the law school, defended the participation of DHS recruiters, writing that the program is a “virtual and voluntary event” featuring more than 100 employers, according to a story on the USC Annenberg Media website.
“Our law students have a diverse range of career interests, spanning the public and private sectors,” Tolson wrote. “Through this career program, they have the option to pursue interviews best suited toward their individual professional goals.”
While the immigration court system, including the ICE attorneys who represent DHS in removal proceedings, has always lacked significant due process protections, Niels Frenzen, the director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Southern California Gould, told the USC Annenberg Media in a statement that, “Over the past year, there has been a profound institutional transformation for the worse.”
The outcry regarding the school’s recruiting event follows a similar scenario at the George Washington University Law School’s and the Georgetown University Law Center’s joint annual virtual Public Sector Recruiting Program on Jan. 23, which prompted more than 1,000 students to petition the agencies to be disinvited, according to the GW Hatchet.
ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor pulled out of that program, but its Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center participated, according to the story.
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