The Guardian followed immigration attorney Milli Atkinson as she pivoted from case to case – and tried to keep herself sane. This is what her typical day looks like
It’s been a chaotic year in San Francisco immigration court. At least 88 asylum seekers have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at their court hearings. More than half of the immigration judges have been fired. A climate of fear and uncertainty pervades.
At the center of it all, immigration attorney Milli Atkinson has been holding things together. She leads the San Francisco Bar Association’s Attorney of the Day program, which provides people from all over Northern California with free legal advice when they show up to immigration court. She also leads San Francisco’s Rapid Response Network, finding legal representation for anyone in the city arrested by ICE.
The Guardian followed along on a recent high-stakes day in court, as she pivoted from case to case - and tried to keep herself sane. The following is a narrative retelling of a typical day, built from Atkinson’s own words and additional reporting.
Your alarm goes off at 5am. You drag yourself out of bed while checking Signal to see if any messages about ICE arrests came in overnight on the rapid response network’s hotline.
