Alumna Spotlight: Michelle Moran on defending immigrants in the Trump era

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra University

Michelle Moran understands her clients more than most lawyers ever could. Moran, who graduated from Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law this spring, starts her new job as an immigration lawyer in a few days. There, she will assist people with the same immigration process that her family went through years ago.

“I am actually an immigrant myself,” Moran said. “Being one of the few [immigrants] that are documented, I saw all of the trials that [my family] had to go through, not only just with the legal system but also [culturally] ... that’s what did it for me. I need[ed] to be part of the change.”

Moran is beginning her career as an immigration lawyer during one of the most anti-immigrant administrations in recent history. President Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform in 2016 and has maintained this position throughout his campaign for reelection. When reflecting on the impact of such strong anti-immigration sentiment in the United States, Moran acknowledges that it has affected her “mentally [and] emotionally; definitely in a negative way.”

During her time at Hofstra Law School, Moran advocated for people directly impacted by the 2017 “zero-tolerance” policy that controversially led to the separation of families at the U.S. border. Through an internship at The Safe Passage Project, a nonprofit immigration legal services organization which provides free lawyers to refugee and immigrant children in the NYC area, Moran represented a young girl who was otherwise alone through the immigration process. “My client was six years old and she did not know where her parents were, where she was standing,” Moran said. “It was extreme to me ... that just took an emotional toll on me.”

Although the Trump administration eventually backtracked on their “zero-tolerance” approach, the more recent Migrant Protection Protocols still complicate the already-difficult immigration process.

Through the Asylum Clinic at Hofstra Law, Moran represented LGBTQ+ clients affected by this protocol. One client, a transgender woman, “had to go wait in Mexico for her asylum interview and her asylum process.” During phone sessions, Moran’s client disclosed: “I’m being tortured here.” Moran worries about the impact of anti-immigration policies on LGBTQ+ individuals, a group of people who are already disproportionately targeted for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The recent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court also gives Moran much to think about. “Listening to her in the hearings ... it’s really sad.” Moran expressed the conflicting sentiments that many women felt surrounding Barrett’s nomination and subsequent confirmation, saying: “I’m proud that [Barrett] is a woman, but she’s infringing on our rights.”

Moran feels that Barrett will lean too heavily on her religious beliefs. “I’m no one to judge, but at the same time, as a supreme court judge, you’re working for the people ... You’re here to serve the people of your country,” she said.

Moran is concerned that Barrett’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, for example, could result in women paying more for health care and losing access to basic no-cost services, such as screening for diabetes and other common illnesses. According to Moran, “Regardless of who wins in the presidency, having a more conservative Supreme Court is really going to impact all of us.”

Despite all that Moran has experienced, both in law school and in the current political climate, there is a silver lining to her struggle. “As an immigrant myself and also as an immigration attorney now, in a positive way, it pushes me to want to do more.” She wants others to take a similar investment into public policy, advocacy and education, advising everyone to “really pay attention to what’s going on.”

Moran believes that both now and in the future, “advocacy is going to be the main [way] things are going to be pushed in the law.” She notes that the separation of families at the U.S. border would have continued had there not been such a public outcry, and she hopes that people will remember that even grassroots movements can make changes at the legal level. Moran believes that if citizens stay engaged, they can even influence the Supreme Court.