Nazly Mamedova, immigration attorney, world traveler, and linguaphile, has called Cincinnati home since she moved here as a teenager in 2004. We sat down to chat shortly after the June Supreme Court decision restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an immigration policy that grants recipients who came to the United States as children a renewable, two-year protection from deportation.

At Xavier University’s Brueggeman Center, where she studied as a fellow while earning her undergraduate degree in international affairs, we talked about the best and worst parts of being an immigration attorney, her family history, and her love of travel.

Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Nicolette Young.

Trigger warning: This interview contains references to sexual assault.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in a country that doesn’t exist anymore: the Soviet Union. My mother comes from a minority population of Crimean Tatars. It’s a very small ethnic group, and I still speak the language. My father is originally from Azerbaijan. I was actually born in Uzbekistan, which is in central Asia. I lived there for a while, but also traveled around the Soviet Union a lot – Ukraine, Russia. I changed lots of schools.

Eventually my mom came to the United States in 2000, and I followed in 2004. I was 16. I came straight to Xavier. I studied English for my first year, as an E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) international student. I received a grant from Xavier to continue with my bachelor’s studies.

My undergrad was at Xavier; my law school was Northern Kentucky University. But Xavier is home – this is where I learned English, where I did my undergrad, where I got to travel to other countries. I ended up going to Egypt and Jordan, spent a semester in London, and did research in Iran.

But I’ve been in Cincinnati ever since. Between the two of us, my husband and I have probably been to 40 countries. We love traveling. We always come back here. Cincinnati’s home.

What was the adjustment like? Did you know much English when you moved to the U.S.?

No, I didn’t – I couldn’t even order pizza. Once I finished the E.S.L. program, I did well enough to continue with my undergrad studies. I speak seven languages, and none of those languages, except Arabic and Spanish, have articles. You’ll hear me very often miss “the.” I still miss articles; it’s very common for Russian speakers.

You learned Uzbek as a child, and then passed through Ukraine and Russia. Did you pick up languages along the way?

I grew up with four languages at home: Azeri and Crimean Tatar, which are somewhat close to each other, plus Russian and the language of our country, Uzbek. Other languages, I picked up as I went: English, obviously. Turkish, because it’s somewhat similar [to Azeri and Crimean Tatar], and then Ukrainian. I went to school there for about 3 or 4 years.

And Spanish, which was more of a necessity language I had to learn. When I started practicing immigration law, I was very often in a situation where I would go to jail to meet with my clients who were detained. I started picking up Spanish from my clients. And one of my clerks speaks Spanish, so I learned more from her. I know enough to communicate freely.

Once you started at Xavier, you studied international affairs. How did you select that major?

I always knew I wanted to go to law school. The reason why was because my mother volunteered me in the community for interpreting or translating things. Because I was studying at the university, everyone was like, “Can we use your daughter to make a phone call or something else?” And going to court and seeing how unfairly people were treated because of the language barrier. No one wanted to listen to them. I was like, I should become a lawyer and be able to hear out people’s stories.

Did you know you wanted to do immigration law?

Yes. My mom went through the immigration process. At some point, it made sense for me to go into immigration law because of the languages I spoke. I remember being in law school and thinking, should I do immigration law or international law? And someone said, “There’s no work for international law in Cincinnati. You want to do that kind of work, go to Washington D.C. or New York.” I also had been volunteering a lot, traveling, and seeing other cultures. Seeing the reasons why people come to the United States brought that together for me.

What traits of yours do you think serve you well as an attorney? And an immigration attorney?

I’m very open to my clients. Part of the work I do is listening: I listen to them and their stories. A lot of times when I have someone coming in and asking to file for asylum, there’s almost always a traumatic situation they have experienced. What do you do when you have a 12-year-old kid in front of you who has been raped in another country and the government’s trying to deport her?

“I’m optimistic things will change, but I also know we can’t stop working toward better.”

Being patient, because of the language barrier. Ability to listen. And empathy, just in general. Those are the traits that help me in my work. It’s difficult to do the work I do if the attorney doesn’t care for their clients or doesn’t want to listen to the stories. Immigration is someone’s life. It impacts your client and their family. The impact is so great that if you’re not doing a good job of listening to their stories, you’re not going to do a good job representing them.

I’m not a typical attorney. Today, I’m kind of dressed up for you guys. I usually come to work in jeans and a T-shirt, no makeup. Sometimes my client will think my clerk is an attorney and not me. I dress very comfortably.

What’s the best part of your work?

People. Meeting new people from other countries, learning new languages. I have clients from Guatemala, which has 27 languages. Twenty-seven! It’s such a small country!

Working with immigrants is always a pleasure. Your clients are nice, and they see that you’re trying to help them. And children – so many of my clients have kids. Oh my god, sometimes we get the most adorable babies in our office! I joke that we provide legal service and babysitting service. I would say my job is very rewarding.

What’s the hardest part of your job?

Giving bad news to people. As attorneys, we’re taught not to get emotionally involved in our work. Total B.S. It’s impossible to do immigration work and not be emotionally involved. So many cases are heartbreaking. It’s not possible to be human and not get emotionally involved.

Our work used to be a little bit easier, and then it got harder and harder as things changed in our country, as the sentiment became much more anti-immigrant. So that makes my job very hard.

A lot of people have this mistaken sense that immigration or refugees affect border cities or states. So how did the Supreme Court’s DACA decision affect your clients?

The good thing is, they weren’t deported overnight. A lot of DACA recipients have outstanding deportation orders. The situation most DACA recipients find themselves in is that they were brought here as children.You grow up here, not understanding why you’re different from other kids. Because your parents didn’t show up to initial court [immigration proceedings], you’re in their case and you have a deportation order. D.H.S. [the Department of Homeland Security] was prepared to honor all those deportation orders.

“Immigration is someone’s life. It impacts your client and their family. The impact is so great that if you’re not doing a good job of listening to their stories, you’re not going to do a good job representing them.

In its decision, the Supreme Court was like, “Government, you didn’t do this right.” They gave them a playbook to cancel DACA. At some point, it’s going to be an issue again unless Congress acts on it. Every year, with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, we go to D.C. I’ve been there for the past three years, and I bring my assistant with me, who is a DACA recipient, so our congressional representatives can hear her story. And they’re like, “Oh my god, sad story, you should stay in this country. But we don’t know about everyone else.” And I’m like, “No! That’s how every DACA recipient is.”

Once a person – an American person, a US citizen – gets to know a person who is an immigrant or a person who is undocumented, they’re like, “We’re cool with you. You should totally stay here. But others, no. We’re against people crossing the borders.”

It has to be so stressful some days for you in your job, when they’re saying, “We’re not going to let people with work visas come in, or green card status come in.”

We’re fighting back as much as we can. And we have to. A lot of things that are happening are related to law and the concept of justice and fairness. It’s good to remind people there’s an understanding of fairness. People might try to justify what they’re doing: “Oh, I’m just following the law.” You’re separating a family; you’re separating a mother from her children. At the end of the day, you’re leaving three kids without a parent. Their whole life is going to be impacted by that experience. I’m optimistic things will change, but I also know we can’t stop working toward better.

What’s something that brings you joy?

Food and travel! I cook – but rarely. I love to eat. I love food. Trying it. I’ve tried crazy types of food. I love traveling because you get to see new places, experience new cultures, meet new people, and I always try to learn a little bit of the language. Basic phrases and basic customs. You don’t want to offend anyone. So food and travel bring me lots of joy.

Also volunteering! Doing something for another person brings me a lot of joy. Building houses in Peru for people who experienced earthquakes or flooding. We go and help others, and it’s not selfless because we get joy back. It’s amazing. I’m also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a national association, where we work on issues and review cases; we do continuous education. Working with the immigration population also transferred into the volunteer work that I do. I’m on the board of the local Red Cross here in Cincinnati. I’m vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Junior League in Cincinnati.

Tell us about an influential woman in your life.

My understanding of influential women in my life has changed. I used to read a lot. And an influential woman was someone who wrote something, or an important figure in history. But it’s changed with my experiences and my age.

Now I would say my mother – what she went through and how much she has done for me to be where I’m at. I wasn’t a great teenager. I remember thinking, “I’m going to grow up, leave the house, be on my own.” That’s what teenagers do. With age, we come to appreciate what our parents have done for us. My mother sacrificed a lot to come to the United States for a better opportunity and future, bringing me here, and working very hard – sometimes several jobs – to help me get an education here. That’s what I appreciate now, more and more.

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Nazly Mamedova on Humanizing Immigration Law