About

The Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic is a two-semester clinic that provides students with an opportunity to represent clients in immigration cases and work on legal projects addressing human rights initiatives.

How Cases Are Assigned and Handled

The faculty supervisor assigns cases to students who work in teams of two or three, depending on the case or project, and consult with each other before and during weekly team meetings with their faculty supervisor. Students prepare claims and advocate on behalf of immigrant clients, including:

• refugees applying for asylum.
• battered immigrants applying for VAWA relief.
• immigrants eligible for U (crime victim) Visas.
• immigrants eligible for T (trafficking) Visas.
• immigrants with claims to U.S. citizenship.
• other claims for permanent residency status.

There may be opportunities for ancillary state court representation related to immigration cases, depending on clients' needs.

Students will also engage in non-litigation strategies and collaborate with state, national and international human rights organizations on legislative and rule-making proposals, policy matters, research papers and amicus briefs. Topics may include trafficking, domestic workers, police reform and various human rights treaty obligations and compliance. Students will work with organizations that are currently seeking to reframe domestic issues as human rights issues, and will engage in various law-related campaigns aimed at addressing a range of economic, social and cultural human rights violations. The final written policy work that students produce will be due in the spring semester and will satisfy a Rigorous Writing Requirement in that semester.