Jaya discovered her passion for removal defense as an undergraduate at UCLA, after seeing a TV segment about children representing themselves in their deportation cases. She learned more through volunteering locally and writing her thesis, entitled “A New Look at the US War on Drugs and the Colorblind Criminalization of Latinx Immigrants.” After completing her 1L at USC Gould, she joined the USC Immigration Clinic as a Law Student Representative and began representing clients, winning asylum for one client in Santa Ana Immigration Court. As an IJC Fellow, she will continue working at the USC Immigration Clinic, representing unaccompanied children.
