Today we’d like to introduce you to Iliana Alexis Gomez.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The most important part of my story starts with the person who did not get to be in my life-my father. My father, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison when I was only 2 years old. My mother was left to raise me and my older sister by herself.
When I was around 14 years old, he was released from prison and he and I began to grow close.
after leaving for college, I continued to speak to him. But one day, when I was a sophomore in college, my mother called me and informed me that my father was in immigration detention facing deportation. I flew out to where he was detained to say goodbye. I knew my father would be deported.
I tearfully said goodbye through a television screen as there was no face-to-face visitation available.
After that, I began devoting myself to learning about prisons and how so many of us are impacted by them without ever being charged with a crime-the children of inmates.
I also wanted to learn about immigration law. I did not even know that my father was undocumented or what that even meant.
But I decided to combine those two interests-criminal laws and how it affects immigration-what we now call crimmigration.
that focus has now shaped my career-I have focused on representing immigrants with criminal convictions.
But it’s important to note that while it was my father’s imprisonment that first made me interested in the law and the criminal justice system, it was my mother who made it possible to go from being an impacted person to an attorney who fights against that system. It was her who told me that nothing was impossible for me and that I was in the best position to fight for inmates & noncitizens with my personal connection. Without her, my father’s imprisonment would have just been a trauma for me rather than the motivation to be a defense attorney.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The immigration system itself is the biggest hurdle. The immigration system is made to not only keep people out but to make it difficult to get lawful status and maintain it once here.
It’s been disheartening trying to get immigration officials to see our clients as humans deserving of status in such a harsh system that is meant to dehumanize and deny your client not just lawful status but also basic rights.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Currently I do research and consultations on the intersection of immigration law and criminal law. I have to determine whether a certain criminal offense is deportable or has some other effect of making a noncitizen ineligible to get status or protection from deportation.
I find myself to be a nerd in this area. I love getting into the complex details and it truly is very complex.
I am not sure if something sets me apart but what I want others to take from my work is that I see it as an act of resistance in a way. Understanding this intersection of criminal and immigration law is very confusing but by dedicating myself to learning it and teaching it to the attorneys around me, I hope that the start of a movement to bring to light the injustice of the system.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I have been so blessed with people I can look up to in this work. What I look for in a mentor is the way that they speak about the work. Are they passionate when they talk about it? To me passion is so contagious and it’s what keeps you going!
