Spring Break Pro Bono Caravans

Al Otro Lado

Together with Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA).

Students worked on a range of important advocacy issues affecting immigrants in the border cities of San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. Students will provide information to and conduct interviews with individuals in Tijuana who wish to seek asylum at the port of entry. Students will also assist with family reunification issues and litigation concerning individuals who were returned at the port of entries without the opportunity to apply for asylum.

Additional requirements/preferences: Spanish language skills strongly preferred, other languages will be considered.

Immigration Defense: Social Justice Collaborative

Students will gain experience in immigration litigation. We partner with Social Justice Collaborative which works with many clients who are applying for immigration benefits, either in court (deportation proceedings) or out of court. Students will assist staff attorneys with research and writing for litigation cases and manage a few cases under supervision, completing forms and declarations, gathering supporting documents, and going to court with attorneys. Students will also have the opportunity to meet independently with and interview clients.

Additional requirements/preferences: Spanish language skills preferred.

Immigrants' and Civil Rights Advocacy: El Paso, TX

Together with Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA).

Students worked on a range of important advocacy issues in the border city of El Paso, Texas, with two local organizations—Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project. Most students will go to Las Americas to provide direct legal services to immigrants, including interviewing, research, visits to clients in detention, and assistance with bond hearings, which you will have the chance to attend. A few students will go to Paso del Norte to research and write on voting rights, racial and criminal justice issues, and novel constitutional questions affecting detained immigrants and the broader immigrant community. All students will have the opportunity to tour the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

Additional requirements/preferences: Spanish is helpful but not required.

NYLAG Immigrant Protection Unit

Students worked with attorneys in NYLAG’s community-based immigration clinics to conduct legal screenings or provide specific application assistance. Some clinics are focused on providing general legal immigration screenings to help individuals to determine eligibility for various forms of immigration relief, including family based petitions, deferred action, T and U visas, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and asylum, while others are designed to provide specific application assistance for some immigration benefits like Naturalization or Temporary Protected Status.

Additional requirements/preferences: Spanish, Chinese or Haitian Creole language skills are helpful but not required.

Immigrant Family Detention: Berks, PA

Students will work with ALDEA to fight for the rights of asylum-seeking families in extended detention in Berks, PA. Currently the population there includes many fathers with their children, in addition to some families who have notoriously been detained for as long as two years. Students will help prepare new arrivals for their Credible Fear Interviews before an Asylum Officer and will also have opportunities to assist ALDEA attorneys with impact litigation work regarding long-term immigrant detention. Berks is the oldest and smallest of three family detention centers in the U.S.

Immigrant Family Detention: Karnes, TX

Students will work with attorneys at RAICES to represent asylum-seeking mothers and their children at the second largest family detention center in the U.S. in Karnes City, Texas. Students will take a trauma-based approach in assisting with the weekend clinic, where they will interview women before or after their Credible Fear Interviews. Students may also assist in drafting advocacy declarations with the policy director about the conditions at Karnes Detention Center and at the border. Students will also have the opportunity to work with RAICES attorneys on important immigrants' rights projects such as their Humanitarian Parole Project, their Unaccompanied Minors Project, or their U-Visa project.

Procedural Asylum Assistance: Messina, Italy

Students will work with law professors and local NGOs in Messina, Italy, to help improve the asylum procedures through which refugees arriving from North Africa are being processed in Sicily and nearby islands. Students will research EU asylum law and African country conditions in order to prepare Know Your Rights materials for the refugees, most of whom speak English. Students may also assist with preparing guidance documents for government officials and "guardians" of unaccompanied refugee minors, and may have the chance to assist local lawyers with appeals.

NYLAG Immigration Law Caravan in NYC

Students worked with attorneys in NYLAG’s community-based immigration clinics to conduct legal screenings or provide specific application assistance. Students participated in a variety of clinics that either provide general legal immigration screenings to help individuals to determine eligibility for various forms of immigration relief, including family based petitions, deferred action, T- and U-visas, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and asylum, or provide specific application assistance for some immigration benefits, like Naturalization, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or Temporary Protected Status.

Dilley, Texas: Immigrant Detention Center (co-sponsored with EWOC)

Students on this caravan worked with the CARA Pro Bono Project to represent immigrant and refugee mothers and their children at the largest family detention center in the United States. Students prepped clients for their Credible Fear Interviews and had the opportunity to represent clients at their bond hearings, as well as prepare bond packets for detained clients. Additionally, students attended debriefing meetings with CARA staff and other volunteers.

Immigration and Civil Rights in El Paso, Texas

Students on this caravan worked on immigration and civil rights issues in El Paso, Texas. We partnered with two local civil rights organizations, Las Americas Immigration Advocacy Center and Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, to provide direct legal services and conduct research projects on novel issues. Students also took a tour of the U.S.-Mexican border and observed immigration court proceedings in town.

International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in Amman, Jordan

Students traveled to Amman, Jordan to provide direct legal assistance to Iraqi and Syrian refugees with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). Students learned how to interview victims of torture and conducted client intakes with vulnerable refugees referred to IRAP by partner NGOs, as well as meeting with existing Columbia clients. Students also attended outreach meetings with local NGOs to learn more about the situation facing refugees on the ground in the Middle East.