Payton Murphy (L) and Elizabeth Ulan (R)

CUA Law Columbus Community Legal Services students Payton Murphy (3L) and Elizabeth Ulan (3L) represented a boy who obtained predicate orders for Special Immigration Juvenile Status. The student attorneys petitioned for custody on behalf of the boy's mother and then obtained predicate orders for the boy. The boy's mother raised him on her own in Honduras after his father was threatened by the local gang and left for the United States. After the father left, gang members threatened the mother and the son because of their connection to the father. When the boy was around seven years ago, a different gang tried to recruit him on his way to school. They encouraged him to steal and, when he refused, they shoved him to the ground and threatened him. The mother and son fled to the United States due to the imminent danger they faced from the gangs.

After preparing the case, Elizabeth and Payton represented the mother and son in a Special Immigration Juvenile Status hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The Special Magistrate in this case granted the mother sole legal and physical custody and made the necessary finding for Special Immigration Juvenile Status. The student attorneys were supervised by Paul Kurth and Catherine Klein.