Navigation Conference Explores Landmark Immigration Case 15 Years On
Stetson Law’s Office of Clinical and Experiential Education recently invited defense attorneys to reflect on their work through the lens of a key case involving immigrants’ constitutional rights in criminal proceedings.
The conference, “Padilla v. Kentucky at 15 Years: Asserting the Constitutional Rights of Immigrant Defendants,”examined Padilla, a landmark case the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 2010, and all that has happened since. The decision recognized that constitutional rights of immigrants accused of crimes include accurate information about how the outcome of their case might affect their ability to remain in the U.S.
Led by Visiting Director of Clinical and Experiential Education Michael Vastine, a nationally recognized immigration law expert, the conference explored established issues and what Vastine called “hot issues” alike in the area of law where immigration law and criminal law overlap. In the early planning stages of the event in the fall of 2024, organizers had not anticipated the seismic shifts in the national conversation on immigration policy that have since ensued.
