by Kenny Berkowitz
Years before applying to the Law School, Krsna N. Avila reached out to Steve Yale-Loehr. Although he’d lived in California since he was four months old, Avila was undocumented, and along with trying to resolve his legal status, he was wondering how he could help people like his parents, who’d been placed in deportation when he was sixteen.
“Steve was a huge part of why I came to Cornell Law,” says Avila ’17, who received his green card in 2011, two years after graduating from the University of California, Davis. “At the time, Cornell had one of the only clinics specializing in appellate advocacy for asylum seekers. It made a big impression on me that Steve was focusing not only on highly successful immigrants but also on individuals who needed representation the most—those who were facing deportation. I learned more about the clinic and Steve’s involvement in the community, and I was convinced.”
Yale-Loehr became his mentor, and after six years as an attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Avila is now the legal director of Path2Papers, which helps DACA recipients pursue pathways to permanent residency. Co-founded a few months before retiring, it’s yet another part of Yale-Loehr’s legacy at Cornell Law, which has created a scholarship in his name for Cornell Law students who are immigrants, the children of immigrants, or others who have shown a commitment to practicing immigration law.
“Immigrants face a lot of barriers, and attorneys are very much needed in this space, whether or not they’re directly connected to the immigrant journey,” says Avila. “We are in a time of widespread fear, not just within immigrant communities but also among advocates. During the first Trump administration, there was a nationwide surge in law students pursuing careers in immigration law. I hope to see the same trend now, and I believe this scholarship can help make a meaningful impact.”
For more information about the Stephen Yale-Loehr Immigration Scholarship, contact Kevin M. Sackett, associate dean of Alumni Affairs and Development, at kms355@cornell.edu.
