Even though Jay Stansell
says his parents taught him discrimination was unacceptable, he admits
that, growing up in a small Ohio town, his view of the world was limited.
College in North Carolina widened this outlook, though his cultural
vista expanded considerably at UW Law School, where he worked with refugees.
“That’s when I began to see how broad the world is,”
says Stansell.
Now, as an assistant federal public defender, that worldview incorporates
local happenings that carry global implications. In 1999, he served
on a legal team working to free immigrants, such as Cambodian refugee
Kim Ho Ma, held indefinitely in a local detention center. The Ma case,
combined with another, worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In
2001, Stansell helped to argue, successfully, that indefinite detentions
of immigrants awaiting deportation to countries without repatriation
agreements were illegal. Due to the ruling, thousands were freed.
Stansell says that case, and the 1,000-plus others the Defender’s
Office has tackled, have convinced him that all people, regardless of
race or nationality, are his brothers and sisters, something he teaches
his two children. “Now,” says Stansell, “I have a
life that doesn’t have borders.”
—Rosette Royale
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