3-26-2024 4:05am

FRANKLIN & OXFORD

JENNIFER IBAÑEZ WHITLOCK, FRANKLIN HIGH GRADUATE AND IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY

Working to advance national policies that promote fairness, efficiency, and justice on behalf of immigrants

JENNIFER IBAÑEZ WHITLOCK: COMING TO AMERICA

Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock remembers being a 5-year-old at the airport in Guatemala City and waving goodbye to her grandparents. She remembers being sad about leaving and about having to give away her pet rabbit because the family was moving to America. What she didn’t know on that day is that more than a decade would pass before she could return to visit Guatemala and that the process of immigration would become her life’s work.

What she didn’t know on that day is that more than a decade would pass before she could return to visit Guatemala and that the process of immigration would become her life’s work.

Like many other immigrant families, Whitlock, her parents, and her three younger siblings initially moved around until settling down in Reisterstown, Maryland. “My parents were looking for housing we could afford,” Whitlock says. (All three of Whitlock’s siblings are Franklin High graduates like her. One sister is a behavioral psychologist, another works in government contracting, and her brother works in the financial services industry.)

Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, standing in front of the U.S. Capitol

“When we first arrived, my siblings and I pretended to speak English,” she remembers. “We would make up gibberish that we thought sounded like English.”

At Cross Country Elementary School in Baltimore City, Whitlock participated in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program. “I have great memories of it,” she says. “There were not a lot of English language learners at the school, and so through ESOL, I had one-on-one time with a teacher. I had gone to a small, private nursery school in Guatemala so going to a big public school was big change for me. ESOL was an oasis for me, and because I was so young, the learning of English wasn’t as much of a challenge as it would have been if I were older.”

MOVING THROUGH BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

When her parents bought a home in Reisterstown, Whitlock transferred to Glyndon Elementary School. “It was a big change for me because of the demographics,” she says. “My school in Baltimore City was predominantly African American, and I stood out there because of my light skin. Glyndon had very different demographics and was predominantly white. One of my most fond memories there is of my best friend, a tall red-headed Russian girl. We looked very different from each other because I was short and dark-haired, but I think we bonded maybe because we were both immigrants.”

“One of my most fond memories [at Glyndon Elementary] is of my best friend, a tall red-headed Russian girl. We looked very different from each other because I was short and dark-haired, but I think we bonded maybe because we were both immigrants.” – Whitlock

Whitlock recalls feeling like everyone was a little bit ahead of her. For example, they were all starting to learn an instrument. But she found a place for herself in the school choir. “I learned every song from ‘The Sound of Music.’ My parents didn’t have time for musicals, but through choir and music classes in school I was getting exposed to a whole new universe, an iconic part of the American repertoire.”

Memories of Franklin Middle School are blurry for Whitlock. “What sticks out, other than the usual worries over adolescence,” she says, “is being glad that the school was so close to the public library branch. I have always loved reading, and being able to go to the library after school was a real mark of independence for me. Give me a novel, and I will be happy for a long time.”

At Franklin High School, Whitlock was active on the school’s very small debate team. She says, “I don’t think a lot of county schools had debate teams at that point. We mostly debated against Catholic schools. At competitions, it would usually be me and my girlfriend against a bunch of boys in their school uniforms.”

“By the time I was in high school,” Whitlock continues, “I had more of a firm understanding of how immigration status affected me. I didn’t have a Green Card until almost senior year. My friends were thinking about where to go to college, and I was stressed about whether I would be able to go. I remember my social studies teacher, Bruce Lesh, having students register to vote, and I had to say, ‘I can’t. I am not a U.S. citizen.’”

Another high school experience Whitlock distinctly remembers are her English classes with Ms. Whitman as her teacher. “She taught us how to write a check and how to write a thank you note,” Whitlock says. “I doubt that it was part of the curriculum. She wanted to make us into successful adults and good humans.”

Whitlock says that her guidance counselor, Mr. Neal, was also very supportive. “I don’t know if he had had many students in my situation,” she says. “But he never tried to steer me away from college. He encouraged me to apply even with a lack of firm plan. When my Green Card came through in time to do the FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid], we both celebrated.”

COLLEGE EXPERIENCES IN MASSACHUSETTS AND AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Whitlock went on to Eastern Nazarene College (ENC), in Quincy, Mass., near Boston. ENC is a small college affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. Whitlock majored in history and pre-law and thrived at the school with its small class sizes.

As a member of the Council for Consortium for Christian Colleges, ENC offered a study abroad program. “I had the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford. . . talk about expanding my world view,” Whitlock says. “It exposed me to a tradition of learning and prestige that I never would have reached otherwise. It felt very removed from everything I had previously known.”

At Oxford, Whitlock studied art history and English literature, toured several museums and churches, visited the pub that author J. R.R. Tolkien frequented, and met her future husband (an American student from another college in the Christian consortium).

Whitlock was able to complete college in three years rather than the usual four, thanks to the many Advanced Placement classes she took in BCPS and the CCBC classes she took the summer before college began.

Whitlock was able to complete college in three years rather than the usual four, thanks to the many Advanced Placement classes she took in BCPS and the CCBC classes she took the summer before college began.

After graduating from Eastern Nazarene, Whitlock followed her professors’ recommendation and spent a year working before starting law school. She returned to Maryland and worked as an intake paralegal for the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. “It was an excellent recommendation,” she says. “I would have been really young starting law school, and working for Maryland Legal Aid Bureau was a big education for me. I got to serve people and hear about their life experiences that I had no exposure to. I had never gone without housing or food, but they had. Sometimes they couldn’t make their appointments because they didn’t have bus fare.”

BUILDING A CAREER FOCUSED ON IMMIGRATION

When Whitlock returned to the Boston area to attend Northeastern University School of Law, she had long known that she wanted to be an immigration attorney. “It resonated for me when my family was applying for Green Cards and a Catholic Charities attorney assisted us,” she says. “It seemed like important work to do.”

Northeastern’s law school stresses experiential learning. After the first year, students rotate between classes and internships. Whitlock was able to complete four internships, three of them related to immigration. She served as a judicial intern for a judge in Middlesex Superior Court; a legal intern for the Political Asylum Immigration and Representation Project; a legal intern with Barker, Epstein & Loscocco, Attorneys at Law (immigration attorneys); and a legal intern for the Boston Immigration Court.

FOCUSING MORE ON POLICIES AND THE LAW

After graduation, Whitlock worked in private practice at two firms in Boston and St. Louis. “I spent the first nine years of my career working directly with families and individuals seeking immigrant visas or applying for asylum,” she says. “After a decade, I decided I wanted to focus more on policies and the law. Our immigration laws haven’t been updated for 30 years. We are living through one of the biggest refugee crises in years, and yet we haven’t updated visa availability, and Congress consistently does not set aside enough funding to process visas and immigration applications. People don’t make the decision to immigrate lightly. It takes a lot for someone to travel hundreds and thousands of miles away from their homes.”

Whitlock worked as a manager of pro bono projects and partnerships for the American Immigration Council for two years before joining the staff of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) where she works as supervisory policy and practice counsel.

Whitlock, left, with Senator Merkley (OR), center, and some American Immigration Lawyers Association members

“The American Immigration Lawyers Association is a bar association with about 16,000 members, mostly attorneys, but including other immigration law professionals,” Whitlock says. “We work to advance in Congress policies that promote fairness, efficiency, and justice on behalf of immigrants.”

“What gives me hope,” she continues, “is that I meet people all the time who, when they pry themselves away from the media and noise, arrive at the conclusion that, at one point, their family came here from another country. It isn’t fair to close the door now and say we are full. I ultimately have a lot of faith in the American people.”

“What gives me hope is that I meet people all the time who, when they pry themselves away from the media and noise, arrive at the conclusion that, at one point, their family came here from another country. It isn’t fair to close the door now and say we are full.” – Whitlock

Whitlock and her husband on top of the Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala

Beyond her work, Whitlock likes to spend time with her husband and their two young children. She still loves reading (although now she relies on audio books), working out, and travel when she can.

Asked if she has advice for immigrant students, Whitlock offers this: “Inform yourself with the right information. Please look beyond TikTok, which shares a lot of information that is not correct. Make sure you are reviewing well-vetted, well-researched information. The youth advocacy group United We Dream is a great place to start.” The American Immigration Lawyers Association also has public-facing information on its website.

Whitlock continues that she has an equally important message for nonimmigrant students: “We need allies – especially when we have a presidential candidate saying that immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ No one chooses to be undocumented. There are a lot of obstacles to achieving legal status in the US.”