Meet Baylor’s nationally recognized expert on immigration law

Among the topics that shape our nation, few have been more pressing or more ubiquitous recently than immigration. The subject can also be complex: What is “DACA”? Who are “dreamers”? What are the proper channels to legal immigration?

At Baylor, we have one of the nation’s top experts on the subject.

After more than a decade practicing law, Laura Hernandez joined the Baylor Law School faculty in 2008. The daughter of parents who came to the United States from Mexico, Hernandez earned her bachelor’s from Stanford and her law degree from SMU before finding her way to Baylor, where her expertise has been called upon by many leading news outlets and journals — including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Texas Public Radio, The National Jurist and the Journal of Law and Public Policy.

[LISTEN to a March 2018 “Baylor Connections” interview with Hernandez]

Hernandez teaches classes on a variety of subjects, including entertainment, poverty and immigration law. But her work on immigration, in particular, goes far beyond the classroom. In 2012, she co-founded the Baylor Law Immigration Clinic, which provides free legal assistance to help guide DACA-eligible individuals through the tedious and sometimes confusing application process to meet the law’s requirements. (DACA stands for “Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals,” and has provided deportation relief to individuals brought to the United States by parent, family members or other adults, through no fault of their own.) Over the last six years, hundreds of individuals have been served through the clinic by countless Baylor students, who in turn gained valuable experience, insight and service opportunities in the process.

Sic ’em, Laura Hernandez!