This spring, Andrea Jacoski, Associate Director of the University of Miami School of Law’s Immigration Clinic, presented oral arguments before a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in a high-stakes appeal involving life-saving protections under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).
The case, Winston Hayles v. U.S. Attorney General, stems from a 2024 designation by the Eleventh Circuit, which selected the Immigration Clinic to represent Mr. Hayles, a Jamaican national facing severe threats of torture by political hit squads if removed to his home country. Alongside Jacoski, the clinic’s legal team on the case includes Professor Rebecca Sharpless and recent School of Law graduate Joseph Korzeb.
The appeal centered on a complex and fiercely debated jurisdictional question: whether federal appellate courts have the power to review a denial of CAT relief if the noncitizen is not simultaneously challenging their underlying, final order of removal.
In a tight 2–1 ruling, the Eleventh Circuit majority sidestepped the merits of Mr. Hayles’s torture claims. Adopting a restrictive view recently signaled by the Ninth Circuit, the majority held that under federal statutory "zipper clauses"—which aim to consolidate immigration appeals—the court lacked jurisdiction because Mr. Hayles’s petition specifically targeted the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) denial of CAT relief rather than the removal order itself. The Immigration Clinic team is actively preparing to file a petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc, asking the full Eleventh Circuit bench to reconsider the jurisdictional barrier.
In the clinic, Jacoski supervises students litigating immigration court cases and federal appeals, co-lectures the clinic’s biweekly seminar, evaluates student performance, and manages a docket of over 50 immigration cases. She has practiced detained immigration removal defense since 2016, focusing on people situated at the intersection of criminal and immigration law. Prior to joining the Clinic, she was the Director of the Detention Program at Americans for Immigrant Justice in Miami, FL.
