Helping people was leading immigration attorney’s passion

Honolulu immigration lawyer Clare Hanusz did not develop into a attorney to get prosperous.

“Her mission in everyday living was helping people today,” explained former legislation colleague John Robert Egan. “She was incredibly superior at it.”

Hanusz, 54, who died Friday at her Honolulu residence adhering to a two-12 months fight with breast most cancers, was a passionate advocate for immigrants in Hawaii and labored a quantity of higher-profile cases in excess of the several years.

Hanusz was 1 of the state’s best specialists on asylum regulation and plan, and frequently appeared in the media to clarify the advanced and politically charged topic.

Born Clare Marie Hanusz in Toledo, Ohio, she would at some point land in Hawaii in 1995 soon after her partner, Nevzat Soguk, was hired as a political science professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Hanusz, who researched political science and Latin American scientific studies as a scholar at Ohio University and traveled extensively in Central The united states, entered the UH regulation faculty in 1996 and specialised in immigration regulation.

Following graduation in 1999, she labored for numerous nonprofits and legislation companies right before opening her have regulation observe, Aloha Immigration, in 2017, symbolizing scores of immigrants trying to get to develop into citizens and legal residents — or stay clear of deportation.

A person of her most high- profile conditions noticed her stand for farmworkers from Thailand in a criminal situation in opposition to the homeowners of a regional farming business accused of illegally importing and abusing the personnel. That situation finished in 2011.

Egan, previous director of the UH Refugee & Immigration Regulation Clinic, explained he and Hanusz collaborated at periods on difficulties and shared procedures in excess of the yrs. They also aided to established up a new nonprofit, the Legal Clinic, devoted to justice for very low-earnings immigrants and migrants in Hawaii.

“Clare experienced a long history of being included in extending legal services to immigrants. She was however active even in non-public exercise. You could often count on her to consider a situation pro bono (with no compensation),” he stated.

Hanusz was honored by the ACLU of Hawaii for her volunteer do the job at the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Professional Bono Celebration in 2017. She was also volunteer legal professional for the Citizenship Workshop structured by Area 5 Union in 2018 and 2019.

“She was the form of attorney that we considered we ought to be but hardly ever accomplished it like she did,” Egan mentioned.

Soguk, Hanusz’s husband, referred to as his wife “a force of mother nature and infinite goodness.”

“She was a job model for a ton of individuals, even me,” he claimed. “She was devoted to modifying the planet — even if it was a small at a time. She just never ever gave up.”

Hanusz and her young children, Alissandro and Derya, had been component of the group that occupied Gov. Linda Lingle’s place of work after the governor slash 17 times from the 2009-10 college 12 months as a budgetary price tag-reducing measure.

Soguk reported his spouse took their children to the Martin Luther King Day parade every single 12 months. And one time, he stated, she fulfilled a household living in a van and arrived residence expressing she wanted to give them dollars. She then uncovered $300 to $400 and took it to the homeless spouse and children.

“This was not scarce in her life,” Soguk stated. “She talked the talk and walked the walk — without operating out of electrical power.”

UH mathematics professor Monique Chyba satisfied Hanusz even though both have been dwelling at UH faculty housing in Manoa in 2002. They had youngsters of equivalent age and turned excellent good friends.

“She was an incredible individual,” Chyba stated. “She was below to save the environment, and her total existence was about helping other men and women. She designed me a far better individual.”

Hanusz ongoing to advocate for individuals properly after remaining diagnosed with most cancers in December 2020 and all over what her spouse and children described as an usually brutal study course of remedy. Hanusz maintained a sunny disposition regardless of the discomfort, her husband said.

In a last act of her charity, she selected to donate her entire body to UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine to additional health care analysis. Chyba mentioned she is aware it’s widespread to glorify a person’s character and deeds just just after they die.

“In this circumstance she really is extraordinary,” she mentioned. “She was seriously any person to the conclude operating for the people who required her.”

The family members will maintain a celebration of life March 19, which would have been Hanusz’s 55th birthday. Send out an electronic mail to [email protected] for information.

In lieu of bouquets, the family asks that contributions be designed in Hanusz’s memory to Kesem Berkeley (donate.kesem.org/fundraiser/4211322), The Authorized Clinic (thelegalclinichawaii.org/donate) and Mom and dad for Public Educational facilities — Hawai‘i (ppshi.org/donate).