UCLA School of Law’s Criminal Law and Policy Consortium (CLPC) is continuing its partnership with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office (LACPD) on a first-of-its-kind fellowship that offers individuals facing deportation legal representation from a UCLA Law graduate with experience in immigration and public interest law.

The Removal Defense Fellowship embeds the law school alum with the LACPD’s recently launched removal defense team to represent clients in federal removal proceedings. At the LACPD, the fellow oversees the LACPD immigration pilot program that connects ICE-detained public defender clients with outside immigration counsel, acts as the liaison between the public defender and immigration counsel, assists immigration attorneys who are representing clients facing ICE-detention and deportation, and writes briefs and argues in state and federal court on behalf of at-risk immigrant clients.

In its first year, the program and inaugural fellow Niki Nguyễn ’25 served with distinction, managing the program and client-referral process, working with outside immigration counsel, and advocating for the rights of public defender clients who were held by ICE following immigration raids throughout Los Angeles County.

Now, during its second year, the program will support the work of Victoria Calderón ’26, for whom the work has deep personal meaning.

“My father and grandparents, who immigrated from Mexico, always told me their dream was for their children to have the opportunity to pursue their own dreams. Becoming a lawyer who supports and advocates for people who are most vulnerable to oppressive systems has always been mine,” Calderón says. “I am looking forward to working with everyone at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office to advocate for immigrants impacted by the criminal justice system. Defending immigrants and their right to life and liberty in the United States has become more important than ever.”

Professor Ingrid Eagly, who co-directs the CLPC, shares Calderón’s enthusiasm for the work that she will do with the defense team at the LACPD. “Our continuing partnership helps to guarantee that Los Angeles County residents have access to immediate and accurate advising on the impact of any contact with the criminal legal system, and to ensure that their rights are protected in detention and in immigration court,” Eagly says.

The one-year fellowship pays the UCLA Law graduate $100,000, plus a $2,500 bar stipend.

“As we enter the second year of this partnership, the L.A. Public Defender’s Office is proud to continue working alongside UCLA Law to strengthen and expand our removal defense efforts. This fellowship has already proven to be an essential component of our commitment to holistic, client-centered representation,” says Ricardo D. García, the Los Angeles County Public Defender. “It’s imperative, now more than ever, that our noncitizen clients receive the skilled advocacy they deserve during some of the most consequential moments of their lives. By investing in the next generation of public interest lawyers, we are not only deepening our capacity to serve our communities today but also helping to build a more just and equitable legal system for the future.”