VETERAN IMMIGRATION LITIGATION ATTORNEY HAMILTON DISCUSSES HIS EXPERIENCE

After I was licensed to practice law in 1994, I almost immediately started representing Kenyans in asylum cases. In those days, asylum for Kenyans was almost unheard of, and for that matter, an advisory opinion from the State Department published in the 1980s was typically introduced in all of my early cases, which recommended against asylum for Kenyans. In my first asylum case before the Immigration Court, Judge Roy Daniel scoffed, "Kenya Mr. Hamilton? You have got to be kidding." I retorted "No Your Honor, I am not kidding and I will demonstrate that asylum is possible from Kenya."

I was introduced to the Kenyan community while I was in law school in the early 90s. in those days, the Kenyan community in California was relatively small and it seemed as if almost all of the Kenyans either knew each other, or were at least one person removed from any other Kenyan. What was clear to me, was that the community was not being properly represented, and their perception of the availability of asylum to them (in spite of a mini ethnic cleansing called the Rift Valley Conflict which took place in Kenya in 1992) was that asylum was unavailable to them. I struggled to understand why this would be so towards the end of my law school education, and determined that there was no valid reason why the United States should deny Kenyans asylum as a matter of policy (as was the perception in the community at the time).

Interestingly, even many Kenyans scoffed at the notion that the United States would grant Kenyans asylum. To them I was a young lawyer, who was out of his mind. Yet, I was encountering so many honorable Kenyan families with horrific stories of persecution in Kenya and fears of return to that country, which I found impossible to ignore. I repeatedly challenged government attorneys and asylum officers' objections and roadblocks to the approval of Kenyan asylum cases, until it became routine for asylum officers and immigration judges to grant Kenyan cases.

Today, if you ask most experienced immigration judges and asylum officers in Los Angeles, California to associate one lawyer with the Kenyan community, they will uniformly give my name. Mostly, however, the Kenyan community, which has exploded since my early days practicing law, is oblivious to the intense lawyering which had to be done to establish Kenya in the hearts and minds of asylum adjudicators as a country from which asylum could be consistently granted.

I still hold the only published winning Kenyan asylum precedent in the 9th Circuit [Njuguna v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 765 (9th Cir. 2004)] in which the alien's eligibility for aylum and withholding or removal are directly adjudicated. There are a few other published cases in the 9th Circuit in which Kenya is mentioned, however, they either do not address applicants who are nationals of Kenya, or they address ancillary matters such as motions to reopen, as opposed to the merits of the underlying asylum claim presented in immigration court by the applicant. Njuguna is one of only a handful of Kenyan asylum precedents nationwide and may be the only winning asylum Circuit Court of Appeals precedents in the country. Njuguna is also the most frequently cited Kenyan asylum case by the 9th Circuit and other circuit courts in the country. Precedents from the Circuit Courts of Appeal are important since they instruct lower court judges and asylum officers as to how the law of asylum should be applied to individual issues which arise in asylum claims.

My experience ranges from the representation of aliens at the asylum office level, through Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), to the Circuit Courts of Appeal (which are just below the Supreme Court of the United States). In addition to the 9th Circuit, I have represented aliens in several other Circuit Courts of Appeal around the country. Aliens who receive the benefit of being represented by a seasoned appellate attorney at the earliest stage of their asylum cases, can be assured that the attorney has not only been sensitive to how the case might unfold in the AO, but also how it might play out at trial and in appeals. This is important because no lawyer, regardless of his or her skill level or experience, can ever guarantee an asylum applicant that he or she will be granted asylum. Hence, it is advantageous for the legal representative to understand the trial and appellate value of the case before it is filed with the asylum office.

I have represented asylum applicants from all of the major tribes of Kenya and many of the smaller tribes such as, but not limited to Kisii, Pokot, and Taita. I have also represented Chinesee, Sri Lankan, Mexican, Guatemalan, East Indian, Iranian, Indonesian, Nigerian, Rwandan, Ugandan, Tanzanian, and Zimbabwean asylum applicants. (There may be countries I have forgotten). However, the great bulk of my cases throughout my career have been from Kenya. In our non-Kenyan cases, my office and I spend a great deal of time emersing ourselves in the country conditions of the target country before filing the case. We further consume the relevant case-law with respect to those countries prior to the asylum hearing, trial or appeal.

My record in asylum hearings, trials and appeals is impecable. Over 90 percent of my clients are granted asylum at some level of proceedings, and most are approved either in the asylum office or immigration court. Having said that, there must be a percentage of cases for any lawyer who litigates asylum claims, which are not approved. This is a hard reality, but is the truth. My article below on the Risks and Benefits of Asylum will explain why asylum can never be guaranteed, and how factors beyond the attorney's control can affect the outcome of any such case. The path to winning an asylum claim can be relatively swift, or incredibly slow, emotionally challenging, and costly over a period of many years.

We are the primier law firm in the United States representing Kenyans and our record and reputation in the Kenyan community speaks for itself. I have enjoyed the process of representing my Kenyan clients and clients from other parts of the world. They have taught me so much as they have benefited from my considerable experience.

Duane M. Hamilton, Esq.