Bringing Wilmer Home
Wilmer Garcia, a legal permanent resident of the United States since the age of 10, was deported to Honduras in 2005 at the age of 22 based on a mistaken interpretation of the removal statute.
Under the law at that time, Wilmer was permanently barred from returning to Louisiana and the only real home he had ever known, with no legal recourse for appeal.
This is the story of how the Boston College Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, in partnership with BC Law alumni working at Nixon Peabody LLP, engaged in an eight-year legal battle, against overwhelming odds, to bring Wilmer home.
Additional Interview Excerpts
Dan Kanstroom
"Of course governments resist these sorts of things. Governments want to be able to deport people as expeditiously as possible, as quickly as possible, as easily as possible. What we were focusing on is the rights of the individuals...."
Heather Friedman
"Wilmer had to overcome just an enormous number of odds, there were many legal obstacles, one being a statute and regulations which barred somebody who had been deported from the United States from even challenging that deportation..."
Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero '07
"We were asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one of the most conservative circuits in the United States, to essentially invalidate a regulation that the attorney general had promulgated..."
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Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School is among the nation’s best law schools. Our success is based on a tradition of educating lawyers through theory and practice, shaping leaders prepared to grapple with society's most important moral and ethical questions.
The Center for Human Rights and International Justice
The Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College addresses the increasingly interdisciplinary needs of human rights work. Through multidisciplinary training programs, applied research, and the interaction of scholars with practitioners, the Center aims to nurture a new generation of scholars and practitioners in the United States and abroad who draw upon the strengths of many disciplines, and the wisdom of rigorous ethical training in the attainment of human rights and international justice.
Post-Deportation Human Rights Project
The Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, based at the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College, is designed to address the harsh effects of current U.S. deportation policies. The Project aims to conceptualize an entirely new area of law, promoting the rights of deportees and their family members through research, policy analysis, human rights advocacy, and training programs.
Human Rights of Migrants: Transnational and Mixed-Status Families
The aim of the participatory action research (PAR) project is to develop human rights research and advocacy skills among immigrant community members within the United States while at the same time generating action oriented data and information. The project has included dozens of collaborative community-university meetings. Boston College faculty and students associated with the project have produced scholarly work in the fields of law, psychology, action research methodologies, and social work.