Lynn Marcus
Director, Community Immigration Law Placement Clinic & Clinical Professor of Law

- Room Number: RH 127
Immigration Law Clinic website: https://law.arizona.edu/immigration-law-clinic
Administrative Associate: (520) 626-5232
Representative Publications
- Immigration Law Basics (2014 - present).
- Immigration Law Handbook (1997 - present).
- The Immigration Law Clinic at Arizona Law (2016) (video), available at https://arizona.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=d03f155e-8408-4c46-a192-0e62bdcdd8b5.
- The Immigration Law Clinic Experience (2015) (video), available at https://law.arizona.edu/immigration-law-clinic.
- Immigration Defense for Arizona Defense Attorneys (2003) (handbook).
- Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Sanctuary Movement and the Asylum Program of Southern Arizona (Desert Penguin Media, 2002) (videotape).
- Complete List of Publications
From 1993 to 1999, Professor Marcus wrote, translated to Spanish, and updated a series of self-help manuals published by the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, with funding from the Marshall Fund and the Ford Foundation. The materials explained the law and procedures for applying for asylum, bond, parole, withholding of removal, legal status through family members, suspension of deportation, voluntary departure, and humanitarian waivers of deportation for legal permanent residents.
Published Decisions:
- Sinotes-Cruz v. Gonzales, 468 F.3d 1190 (9th Cir. 2006), co-counsel for petitioner (rule disqualifying certain legal permanent residents from eligibility for waivers does not apply retroactively to pre-1996 criminal convictions);
- Fernandez-Ruiz v. Gonzales, 466 F. 3d 1121 (9th Cir. 2006) (en banc), co-counsel for amici curiae (the term crime of violence, used, inter alia, as a basis for removal of non-citizens, does not encompass accidental incidents, such as offenses which may be committed recklessly rather than with an intent to injure); brief published at http://ssrn.com/abstract=949605;
- Ye v. INS, 214 F. 3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2000), counsel for petitioner (unlawful entry into a locked vehicle is neither burglary nor a crime of violence so as to render noncitizen subject to removal as an aggravated felon).
Representative Presentations and Media Appearances
Professor Marcus is a frequent lecturer and commentator on immigration issues. Recent representative presentations and media appearances include the following:
- Quoted, 'Shocking' Decision to Allow Trump Administration to Bar Some Asylum-seekers, Activists Say, Tucson Sentinel (Sept. 11, 2019), available at http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/091119_asylum_reactions/shocking-decision-allow-trump-administration-bar-some-asylum-seekers-activists-say/.
- Interview, The Trump Administration Is Attempting To Bypass Flores Agreement, KJZZ (Aug. 29, 2019), available at http://theshow.kjzz.org/content/1142891/trump-administration-attempting-bypass-flores-agreement.
- Speaker, Migration - Humanitarian Crisis and US Response, Tucson Great Decisions Association Event (Tucson, Ariz., Apr. 12, 2019).
- Quoted, Can Democrats Decriminalize Unauthorized Immigration?, Pacific Standard (Apr. 10, 2019), available at https://psmag.com/social-justice/can-democrats-decriminalize-unauthorized-immigration.
- Panelist, Severed Ties: The Legal and Humanitarian Impact of U.S. Immigration Policy, League of Women Voters Planning Committee for the Voter Education Program public meeting (Tucson, Ariz., Nov 17, 2018).
- Interview, Law Professor: AG Sessions Changes Make Process As Difficult As Possible For Asylum Seekers, KJZZ (Aug. 6, 2018), available at http://theshow.kjzz.org/content/680804/law-professor-ag-sessions-changes-make-process-difficult-possible-asylum-seekers.
- Interview, Legal Challenges to the Rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program & Rights of DACA Recipients, Arizona Week, Arizona Public Media (Sept. 22, 2017), available at https://tv.azpm.org/p/originals-azweek-art/2017/9/22/117174-episode-334-....
- Quoted, Not Just "Bad Hombres:" U.S. Immigration Arrests Up One-Third from 2016, CBC News (May 2, 2017), available at http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ice-immigration-trump-undocumented-statistics-1.4094576.
- Panelist, The U.S. Overseas Refugee Program and the Impact of the New Executive Order (Dismantling Fear: Voices of Tucson's Refugee Community Panel, Confluencecenter for Creative Inquiry, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., Apr. 20, 2017).
- Panelist, Town Hall - President Trump's Executive Orders: Information and Legal Analysis (James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 8, 2017).
- Hot Topics in U.S. Asylum Law – Claims Based on Flight From Domestic Violence and Flight From Cartels or Gangs (James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, Ariz., May 2016).
- Interview, Study Shows Disparities in How Arizona Judges Granted Asylum, Cronkite News (May 4, 2016), available at https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2016/05/04/study-shows-disparities-arizona-judges-granted-asylum/.
- Interview, Immigration Laws for Cubans May Change with Normalization, Arizona Public Media (Mar. 24, 2016).
- Interview, US Supreme Court Will Review Immigration Executive Action, Arizona Public Media (Jan. 20, 2016).
- Immigration Remedies Relevant to Federal Criminal Practice (Office of the Federal Public Defender, Tucson, Ariz., Dec. 2015).
- A Humanitarian Crisis: Responding to the Influx of Central American Children (James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, Ariz., Sept. & Nov. 2014).
- Interview, City to Form Task Force to Crack Down on Sex, Labor Trafficking, KOLD-TV News (Oct. 14, 2015), available at http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/30264764/city-to-form-task-force-to-crack-down-on-sex-and-labor-trafficking.
- Interview, Discussion on Arizona losing another immigration law case on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Arizona Week, Ariz. Public Media (June 5, 2015), available at https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10153369838888147&id=280244408146 (discussion begins at 22 minutes into the broadcast).
- Immigration Benefits and the Medical Evaluation (Univ. Ariz., College of Medicine, Tucson, Ariz., Sept. 2014).
- Editorial source, Migrant Children Fleeing Danger is Refugee Crisis, Ariz. Daily Star (July 19, 2014), available at http://tucson.com/news/opinion/editorial/migrant-children-fleeing-danger-is-refugee-crisis/article_bbc1784a-e4ad-5372-a6e0-3eb48dfedc8e.html.
- Interview, Migrant Youths Have Options to Stay, Hard to Obtain, Arizona Week, Ariz. Public Media (June 13, 2014), available at https://www.azpm.org/s/20401-az-week-migrant-youths-have-options-to-stay-difficult-to-obtain/.
- Interview, 3 Keys to Immigration Reform: Legal Expert, Arizona Week, Ariz. Public Media (Nov. 26, 2012).
Education
- J.D. New York University School of Law
1989
Moot Court Board, 1987 - 1988; Recipient of Public Interest Summer Internship Grants, 1987 & 1988 - B.A. Stanford University
1986
Admitted to Practice
- United States Supreme Court
- Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- U.S. District Court of Arizona
- Arizona
Work Experience
- Director, Immigration Law Clinic
James E. Rogers College of Law
2018 - present - Co-Director, Immigration Law Clinic
James E. Rogers College of Law
2008 - 2018 - Director, Immigration Law Clinic
James E. Rogers College of Law
1997 - 2007 - Clinic Director; Assistant Adjunct Professor of Law
Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Inc., Florence and Tucson, Arizona
1995 - 1996 - Intake Attorney (part time)
Southern Arizona Legal Aid, Inc., Tucson, Arizona
1994 - Attorney, Project Coordinator
Tucson Ecumenical Council Legal Assistance, Tucson, Arizona
1990 - 1994 - Attorney; Legal Assistant
Southern Arizona Legal Aid, Inc. Immigration Project, Tucson, Arizona
1989 - 1990
Public & Institutional Service
- Founding member, Asylum Program of Arizona (now the Asylum Services Committee, affiliated with Catholic Social Service of Tucson), 2002 - present
Chair of Advisory Committee - Member, Board of Directors, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest
Dec. 2005 - 2008 - No More Deaths, volunteer consulting attorney (periodic summer training sessions for volunteers)
2005 - 2007 - Member, Immigration Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona, 2001 - present
Co-chair, 2003 - 2005; member, Executive Council, 2004 - 2007 - Member, Immigration and Nationality Committee, Section of International Law and Practice, Arizona Bar Association
1999 - 2000 - Member, Board of Directors, Southern Arizona People's Law Center
1998 - 2005 - Member, Board of Directors, Tucson Ecumenical Council Legal Assistance
1998 - 2000 - Member, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
1990 - present, annual meeting planning committee member, 2005, 2006
Awards
- YWCA of Tucson's Women on the Move Recipient
2004 - First Place, Creative Writing Contest (Song/Poetry), Clinical Education Association
2003 - University of Arizona Minority Law Students' Association Community Service Award
1998 - New York University Public Service Fellowship
1992