Quinnipiac University School of Law Hosted QU Law alumni for a panel on “practicing immigration law in the ICE age,” April 6.

The panel, moderated by Immigration Law professor Sheila Hayre, consisted of alumni from various graduating classes that graduated at Quinnipiac Law School. It included Immigration Attorneys Justin Fappiano, Alicia Kindsman and Brittany Eckerd in person, with Eli Macdonald and Danielle Robinson-Briand participating remotely.

“It’s so important to get together with fellow practitioners because I am always shocked at how things currently stand for lawyers practicing in this area of law,” Hayre said to The Chronicle.

The event aimed to be a discussion of the field of immigration law now that President Donald Trump is in his second term as president.

“When I teach immigration, I tell the students we’re going to learn about constitutional law and civil rights, and then we’re going to see how in the area of immigration, none of this is followed,” Hayre said to the audience.

She said that her students are disturbed by the realizations.

Fappiano started the introductions.

”I was doing the LSAT and applying before 2003, post-9/11 that definitely kind of formed some of my intentions and my interest in going into law school,” he said.

Kindsman explained that going to law school wasn’t her intention, but later fell in love with practicing law and the people that came with it, while volunteering at the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.

Eckerd was Dean of Students at a school in California during the first Trump administration.

“Seeing the impact that that bit of chaos had on my students prompted me to want to do something outside of the higher education sphere,” Eckerd said.

Many of the students she worked with were Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or either they or their families were undocumented.

Macdonald’s inspiration was his mom and community.

“She’s a bilingual midwife in North Carolina, and we developed a lot of friends growing up in the Guatemalan community,” he said.

Robinson participated via Zoom from Minnesota, which has been a hot spot for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Especially since Operation Metro Surge, which began in Dec. 2025, to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants.

“When the surge happened in December through the end of February, I felt really, I think, proud that I have the right skill set to help people, and so I hope to get to talk a little bit more about what that was like during that time,” said Robinson.

Kindsman says that immigration law has been difficult even before Trump was elected.

“Our current system that we’re operating in… under the Immigration Nationality Act, has been in place for some decades now, and has been difficult,” she said. “Especially for vulnerable individuals and individuals, those who are desperate to save their lives and feed their children, those who probably should have been at least part of the focus or priority and never really happened.”

Kindsman said that our world is changing, but our laws have not changed to reflect that.

She believes that many people speak inaccurately and without understanding the reality of the citizenship process.

“The thing that always kind of re-centers me is that many of those comments show very clearly that most folks have no idea how immigration laws work,” she said. “They really, truly believe that there must be a pathway that exists for folks who just do it the right way, who just do the paperwork.”

Robinson explained her experience in Minnesota. She said it was “tragic for everyone” when United States citizens Alex Pretti and Nicole Good were killed by Department of Homeland Security agents in January.

The panelists agreed that racial profiling is now a large factor in immigration enforcement.

“People were so scared about getting detained, and not just clients without papers. We’re talking even people who are naturalized citizens, who were so scared to leave their homes because of the color of their skin,” Robinson said.

Fapiono believes the system is broken and that things have gotten “uglier” since he first started in his career.

“If you’re inclined to despair, take a deep breath. Look at a lot of the federal courts, stuff that has happened. Go beneath the headlines. Look at what real attorneys are doing, and stay tuned,” he said.