14 July 11 • 2019
jn

ALLISON JACOBS JN DIGITAL EDITOR

Schmoozing 
with Ryan Israel

Attorney talks about immigration law — 
challenges and rewards.

Q. 

What inspired you to become an 
immigration attorney? 
Before I applied to law school, I thought 
this was the type of law I wanted to 
practice because I wanted to help people 
from different countries — and I spoke 
different languages. I thought it was a 
good way to merge those two concepts.

Q. 

How did you become multilingual 
and which languages do you speak 
fluently?
Initially, it was from reading books in 
Spanish and English, and French and 
English, and then I wound up taking 
courses in high school and college. In 
undergrad, I studied Italian and Spanish 
as my majors and I also did one class 
in Portuguese, one class in French and 
a semester of Russian. I am fluent in 
Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese — 
and English! I use Spanish almost every 
day.

Q. 

Tell us about your current job and 
your role there.
At George P
. Mann and Associates, I 
mainly do the litigation of immigration 
or removal proceedings, which is when 
the government tries to deport immi-
grants. I mainly do individual hearings 
and bond hearings. Bond hearings are 
when you try to get someone released 
from detentions, and individual hearings 
are when you’
re arguing why someone 
shouldn’
t be deported.
I’
d say the most common cases I 
do are asylum cases and cancellation 
of removal, which are two forms of 
relief available for immigrants who 
meet certain eligibility requirements. 
Most of the clients I represent are from 
Central America, but I also represent a 
decent amount from the Middle East.

Q. 

How do recent immigration law 
changes impact your work?
The laws have been constantly changing. 
With a lot of these cases, people don’
t 
know what the law is, if that makes 
sense. There’
s a lot of new litigation over 
changes being made. Unfortunately, 
most of the laws are anti-immigrant.
For example, a few a months ago, 
there was a case called Matter of Castro-
Tum: Prosecutors used to be able to 
put a case on hold for as long as they 
wanted, and the government could 
decide not to prosecute cases; recently, 
the attorney general made it so judges 
couldn’
t shelf the cases except in very 
particular circumstances. Tons of cases 
across the county had to be re-dock-
eted, and that impacted a lot of people 
because when their cases were put on 
hold, they could pursue another form of 
relief — all of a sudden, they had to go 
through their deportation proceedings.
Another big change was called Matter 
of A-B, which had to do with Attorney 
General Jeff Sessions limiting the scope 
of asylum proceedings … for women 
in domestic violence situations or asy-
lum-seekers being persecuted by gangs. 
That decision has been up in litigation 
and many immigration practitioners are 
arguing against it. It appears now courts 
are finding that decision doesn’
t apply, 
which is good for immigrants, but that 
decision caused a lot of chaos because 
many judges believed people who were 
domestically abused wouldn’
t qualify for 
asylum. That is still being argued over 
right now.

Q. 

What do you like most about 
your job?
Every day I go to court, I’
m on 
the front line arguing for people 

who are just trying to survive. Often, I 
am the only voice for families who are 
living in constant fear of being ripped 
apart. It can be stressful carrying the 
weight of this information on your 
shoulders and knowing that you’
re 
this family’
s only defense. Many times, 
you need to hold your ground, even 
when the system pushes against you. I 
find this line of work very rewarding 
because each win or argument that you 
make may be something that keeps a 
family together or that keeps someone 
from being killed or tortured.
I also enjoy meeting people from all 
over the world and just hearing their 
stories and having the opportunity to 
fight for them. 

Q. 

If you could change one thing 
about immigration laws, what 
would it be? 

I would have Congress re-address 
all laws and come up with a new set 
of laws that would better address 
the issues that have been arising. I 
think there should be a review of 
what the laws are in the Immigration 
and Nationality Act — it has pretty 
much been stagnant since 1996, and 
Congress should review everything 
and perhaps decide what laws they 
maybe want to add on or change. I feel 
a lot of issues remain unaddressed.

Q. 

You’
ve always made time for 
Jewish community involvement. 
What have you been doing lately?
I created Let’
s Say Chai last year, which 
is a social Jewish outlet focusing on 
outdoor activities for young adults. I 
also went to quite a few of The Well’
s 
events — those are good. ■

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yan Israel, 29, lives in Farmington Hills. He attended the University of 
Michigan followed by law school at Michigan State University. He is an 
associate immigration attorney specializing in litigation and removal pro-
ceedings for immigrants at George P. Mann and Associates. In his free time, he 
enjoys skiing, traveling and working out. 

COURTESY RYAN ISRAEL

Ryan 

Israel

