Kristen Jackson

In late 2015, Kristen Jackson attended a deposition in Washington, DC—and nearly fell out of her chair. The immigration judge sent to speak on behalf of the federal government—which was opposing a lawsuit to establish immigrant children’s right to appointed counsel—testified, “I’ve taught immigration law literally to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of patience. They get it.” Media coverage, both serious and satirical, ensued.

The confounding nature of this unexpected testimony was especially evident to Kristen, whose trailblazing legal career has impacted the lives of untold numbers of children in Los Angeles and throughout the United States.

Kristen is a senior attorney at Public Counsel in Los Angeles, California, where since 2003 she has represented immigrant children in state and federal proceedings to protect procedural rights and obtain Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and asylum. Whether representing individual clients at the trial or appellate level, or litigating national class actions, Kristen brings a defense-minded perspective to her work. As a nationally renowned lecturer and technical assistance provider, she also trains attorneys on her approach. She explained,

When I started out, there didn’t seem to be a concept of the child’s immigration attorney as the defense attorney in removal proceedings. It is critical to hold the government to its burden and protect the child’s rights in the process.

Kristen has led the movement to get children’s immigration attorneys around the country to increase their zealousness and rigor in defense of their clients. For example, she co-authored the first practice advisory that teaches immigration attorneys how to suppress illegally obtained evidence used against children in immigration court, including evidence obtained in violation of state juvenile confidentiality laws. As she described it,

It felt like swimming upstream to get people to listen to me, to understand that it is ok to upset the status quo and the settled expectations of judges and ICE prosecutors when fighting for your clients. You should demand to cross-examine officers who violated your client’s rights. You have to lay the foundation for appeals.

If there was one positive that came from the extreme challenge of representing immigrant children during the Trump administration, Kristen says, it was that many attorneys finally realized that these strategies have an important place in their approach to children’s cases.

Regardless of the president or political party in power, what resonates most deeply with Kristen is that children should never go to court alone. There is still no recognized right to government-funded counsel for children in immigration proceedings. This means that children are often forced to appear in immigration court without representation. This is true whether the child is a baby, a 3- or 4-year-old, or a teenager. If Kristen’s work as part of a national team of litigators fighting to establish a right to appointed counsel is ever successful, it would fundamentally change the system and ensure that immigrant children get a fair day in court.

While Kristen values working on these broad legal issues, she really enjoys seeing the impact her work has had on the lives of her individual clients. She loves to see them thriving years later, going to college, working, or having families, and she sometimes helps them over the finish line to gain U.S. citizenship as young adults. Ultimately, she loves seeing how a positive interaction with an attorney at a particular tough time in a child’s life can be very meaningful to them.

A few years ago, a local community college professor reached out to Kristen and shared with her the scholarship application essay of one of Kristen’s former clients. This client did not know that Kristen would ever see these words she wrote:

I was hopeless and lost, I asked myself everyday why I should even try when I would just be sent into misery for the rest of my life. I never expected anyone to help me. I just assumed that I was doomed until I met Kristen Jackson. Ms. Kristen gave me a chance of a lifetime with the gift of opportunities. She provided all of her knowledge and services as an immigrants' rights attorney to me free of charge. For over a year and a half, she worked countless hours researching and preparing paperwork for the case. She never gave up on me and persisted through. I have never met anyone so generous and loving to a stranger, it was shocking. Suddenly, I had a purpose in life. I did not know what it was in the beginning, but I did not want to disappoint Ms. Kristen.

Kristen’s own purpose in life is rooted in her work and the relationships she has nurtured along the way. Weathering the pandemic in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California, Kristen continues on her path, fighting for the rights of immigrant children.  As Kristen puts it, “There is never a shortage of innovative work to do—though, admittedly, it is unlikely ever again to involve a deposition featured in The Onion.”

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