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IMMIGRATION OCTOBER 09, 2026 | The Indian Eye 43

accountability. Lawyers who present obligation of lawyers to pursue lawful representation that the law permits asylum claim has nothing to fear or
applications authorized by statute do relief for vulnerable clients. Percival’s and professional ethics often require. apologize for. That lawyer is not un-
not create a backlog simply by insisting letter is not an isolated attack. In 2017, Immigration lawyers should not dermining the legal system, but per-
that their clients receive the process Attorney General Jeff Sessions de- be intimidated. They should continue forming noble work essential to its
the law promises. nounced “dirty immigration lawyers” to represent vulnerable immigrants integrity. The asylum system depends
Percival’s suggestion that coun- who, he claimed, encouraged clients without fear, guided by the rules of not only on truthful applications and
tries in the Western Hemisphere are to make false asylum claims by sup- professional conduct: investigate the ethical lawyers, but also on an exec-
generally safe, and that claims from plying “magic words.” In March 2025, facts, counsel clients candidly, reject utive branch that respects statutory
the region therefore lack a basis for the White House issued a memoran- fabrication, and advance every non- rights, controlling precedent, individ-
asylum, is equally untenable. The dum accusing the immigration bar and frivolous meritorious argument avail- ualized adjudication, and the essential
Western Hemisphere is not a single major law firms’ pro bono practices of able under the law. They should also role of counsel. Let immigration law-
country-condition category, and gen- coaching asylum seekers to conceal continue to press for interpretations of yers stand fearless and proud, knowing
eralized assurances of safety cannot their past or lie about their circum- asylum law that protect asylum seekers that every ethical defense of an asylum
displace evidence concerning a partic- stances, and linked this alleged con- and to develop the law through good- seeker vindicates the highest promise
ular applicant, persecutor, locality, or duct to fraud and threats to national faith challenges to restrictive agency of our profession—to ensure that ev-
government’s ability and willingness to security. These sweeping accusations precedents. A lawyer who complies ery asylum claim receives the fair and
provide protection. The United States stigmatize an entire bar for providing with ethical rules while pursuing an searching consideration the law
itself invaded Venezuela in January ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2026, using military force and remov- Cyrus D. Mehta, a graduate of Cambridge University and Columbia Law School, is the Managing Partner of Cyrus D. Mehta
ing its president—an intervention & Partners PLLC in New York City. Mr. Mehta is a member of AILA’s Administrative Litigation Task Force; AILA’s EB-5 Com-
that produced further political and mittee; former chair of AILA’s Ethics Committee; special counsel on immigration matters to the Departmental Disciplinary
regional upheaval. An administration Committee, Appellate Division, First Department, New York; member of the ABA Commission on Immigration; board member
that has contributed to instability in
Latin America cannot credibly invoke of Volunteers for Legal Services and board member of New York Immigration Coalition. Mr. Mehta is the former chair of the
the hemisphere’s supposed safety as a Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Council and former chair of the Committee on Immigration and Nationality
reason to prejudge asylum claims aris- Law of the New York City Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker and writer on various immigration-related issues, including
ing there. Whether an applicant has on ethics, and is also an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, where he teaches a course entitled Immigration and
a well-founded fear must be decided Work. Mr. Mehta received the AILA 2018 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for advancing the practice of immigration law
under the statute on an individualized and the AILA 2011 Michael Maggio Memorial Award for his outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the
record, not by geopolitical slogan.
AILA has properly rejected the immigration field. He has also received two AILA Presidential Commendations in 2010 and 2016. Mr. Mehta is ranked among
premise that immigration lawyers are the most highly regarded lawyers in North America by Who’s Who Legal – Corporate Immigration Law 2019 and is also ranked
the culprits and reaffirmed the ethical in Chambers USA and Chambers Global 2019 in immigration law, among other rankings.

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