ImmigrationProf Blog

Position Opening: Legal Fellow in the Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice

Legal Fellow in the Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice  - (2500006O)

 

The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is seeking a Legal Fellow. 

The Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice provides vital pro bono representation to people facing deportation at the trial court level and in the federal appellate courts to advance the law to benefit immigrants in Maryland and nationally.  The Center trains law students and supports attorneys to provide zealous representation for immigrants, especially in cases involving asylum and the minimizing of the lasting effects and racial inequities of disproportional criminal enforcement.  It supports a Citizenship Initiative to promote naturalization so that Maryland’s immigrant community can have more stability and more of a political voice to advocate for itself, and its students at times engage in legislative and policy efforts to promote critical law reform advocacy. 

Click the link above for details.

 

KJ

NYU Law Senior Staff Attorney, Immigrant Defense Initiative

 

NYU Law School is hiring a Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigrant Defense Initiative (IDI), a project of the Immigrant Rights Clinic that provides legal advice, representation, and referrals to members of the NYU community, including students and staff, who are at risk of removal or who are otherwise in need of legal immigration support. IDI also organizes Know Your Rights trainings and other events in response to concerns with immigration policies and developments. 

The job listing is here.

KJ

Staff Attorney – Detention Project: Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP)

 

Based in Portland, Maine, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) is Maine’s only state wide immigration legal aid organization. ILAP’s mission is to help low-income immigrants improve their legal status and to work for more just and humane laws and policies affecting immigrants. ILAP’s work includes direct legal services for over 3,000 clients each year;
education and outreach to immigrant communities and service providers; and systemic advocacy on local, state, and federal immigration law issues.

ILAP is committed to having a respectful, collaborative, and equitable work environment, with equal opportunity for all employees. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, immigrants, and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. We believe in building an organization that is reflective of the communities that we serve and is diverse in work background, experience, education, race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, national origin, or sensory, mental, and physical abilities. We believe that having a diverse and equitable organization strengthens our programming and services and advances our organizational values.

POSITION DESCRIPTION
ILAP is seeking a full-time staff attorney based in ILAP’s Portland Office whose primary role is to coordinate and provide immigration legal services to noncitizens detained by immigration authorities in Maine.

TO APPLY
Send a cover letter and resume, by e-mail to [email protected]. Review of applications will begin on February 24, 2025 and will continue until the position is filled.

HIRING PROCESS
Qualified candidates offered to take part in the hiring process will begin with an initial interview with a panel of 3-5 ILAP staff members. Finalists will be invited to a second-round interview with the initial interview team and 2-3 additional staff members. ILAP will then check references before extending a written offer of employment to the selected candidate, which will detail salary, benefits, and other important information. We are committed to notifying applicants who are not selected in a timely manner throughout the process.

KJ

LaVerne Justice and Immigration Clinic Helps Secure Asylum for Transgender Client

Krystal Rodriguez-Campos

Congratulations to the University of LaVerne's Justice & Immigration Clinic for securing asylum for a transgender, HIV-positive woman from Guatemala, who fled from severe abuse.  Krystal Rodriguez-Campos directs the Clinic.

According to the LaVerne Press release, "[d]espite facing numerous challenges, including a late asylum filing, a complex criminal history, and two interviews with the Los Angeles Asylum Office, [the applicant's] case was finally approved, granting her lawful status and offering a path to a new life in the U.S."

KJ

Call for Applications: Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program is hiring a Clinical Teaching Fellow for a two-year term, starting the summer of 2025. The position includes benefits and a salary of up to $80,000, depending on experience. 

The Clinical Teaching Fellow’s docket will include cases and clients for both clinics housed within the program: the Immigration and Refugee Clinic and the Crimmigration Clinic, as well as supervision of the student practice organization, the HLS Immigration Project. The Clinical Teaching Fellow will also develop materials for and assist with teaching courses on Crimmigration, Immigration and Refugee Advocacy, Strategic Immigration Litigation, among other immigration-related courses. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply by January 15, 2025. 

 Prior Fellows have launched successful careers in a multitude of positions, including tenure-track faculty at various academic institutions, directors of immigration advocacy groups, and a range of management positions at non-profit organizations.  

Information about the position is available here.

KJ

Webinar Series -- Words Matter: The Impact of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Policies on Clinicians and Patients

Three-Part Webinar Series

Words Matter: The Impact of Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Policies on Clinicians and Patients

Register for the series here

CME and CNE credit available for 1st and 3rd sessions.

This webinar will be provided in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish.

In today's socio-political climate, the language we use matters more than ever. Join us for a thought-provoking and insightful three-part webinar series that explores the profound impact of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies on both clinicians and patients from BIPOC communities. Each webinar is designed to empower clinicians including Community Health Workers with practical strategies and insights to enhance their clinical practice, challenge stereotypes, and advocate for policies that promote health equity. We would like to express our gratitude to the donors of W2W's "Words Matter" fundraising campaign for making this webinar series possible.  Registration here. KJ

Immigration Litigation and Advocacy Fellowship

James H. Binger Center for New Americans

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School is hiring a recent graduate for an Immigration Litigation and Advocacy Fellowship to start in July or August of 2025. The position is a two-year commitment based on annual, renewable appointment, with an optional third year. 

 

The Fellow will work primarily with me in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, collaborating on clinical casework in federal courts, clinical case supervision, and other related litigation and advocacy projects. The Fellow will also have opportunities to collaborate with and be mentored by the larger Binger Center's wonderful faculty and staff. The position is intended to support the development of the Fellow for a career providing noncitizens with high-quality, comprehensive immigration representation, whether in a non-profit, academic, or private practice setting.

 

If you are interested or know someone who may be, the full position description and application can be found on the University of Minnesota Employment website, Job ID 365027. Here are direct links for External Applicants and Internal Applicants.

 

KJ

Podcast on Haitian Interdiction Litigation

The latest Criminal podcast (A Land Without Law) focuses on the Haitian interdiction litigation.  Professor Harold Koh is interviewed extensively about the conditions in Guantánamo Bay where Haitians were initially held and the litigation. 

Before Guantánamo Bay became the prison for alleged terrorists after September 11., 2001, Marie Genard spent more than a year of her life there. She was 14.  Marie was interviewed on the podcast.

The litigation is discussed in Brandt Goldstein’s book Storming the Court: How a Band of Law Students Fought the President—and Won (2006).

KJ

Immigration Article of the Day: The Limits of Immigrant Resilience by HUYEN PHAM, NATALIE COOK, ERNESTO AMARAL, RAYMOND ROBERTSON, and SUOJIN WANG

The Limits of Immigrant Resilience by HUYEN PHAM, NATALIE COOK, ERNESTO AMARAL, RAYMOND ROBERTSON, and SUOJIN WANG, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 509-46, 2024

Abstract

Economists have identified important adaptations that immigrant workers have made to weather economic crises. During times of economic contraction, immigrant workers have moved across industries or geographical locations, downshifted to part-time work, and accepted lower wages to stay employed. Evidence from the Great Recession (2007–2009) shows the benefits of that economic resilience: immigrant workers were more likely than native-born workers to remain continuously employed, to have shorter periods of unemployment when they lost their jobs, and to regain jobs more quickly in the recovery period. Of course, these adaptations had significant personal costs for immigrant workers and their families, but in times of increased job competition, their resilience enabled them to keep jobs and crucial sources of income and had important, positive spillover effects for native-born workers.

Our research, however, shows important limits to that immigrant resilience. In our analysis of Current Population Survey (“CPS”) data during COVID-19, immigrant workers had worse employment outcomes than native-born workers. Looking at the restaurant industry as a case study, we found that immigrant workers were more likely to lose their jobs, keep only low-paying jobs within restaurants, or drop out of the labor market entirely, as compared to native-born workers. The sharply contrasting experiences of immigrant workers during these two crises can be explained by the nearly simultaneous and complete shutdowns that states imposed across the country during the pandemic. These shutdowns undercut any mobility and flexibility advantages that immigrant workers might otherwise have had and threatened immigrants’ already precarious economic positions. As we look to the real possibility of future pandemics, these limits on immigrant resilience counsel for increasing immigrant access to aid programs at both the federal and state levels to benefit both immigrant workers and the larger economy that relies heavily on immigrant productivity.

KJ

University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law launches immigration law clinic

 

University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law has announced the opening of an immigration law clinic. "Housed in the Legal Aid Society building downtown, the clinic will serve clients who are authorized to be in the United States and the commonwealth of Kentucky but do not have the requisite documentation to prove it."

Law students will work under the supervision of former U.S. immigration judge and clinic director Chris Kozoll. They will represent clients and assist them in attaining legal status.

The Kentucky legislature provided the law school $1.5 million in funding for the new clinic.

KJ

Chronicling 25 Years of Violations: ICE Detention at Plymouth County Correctional Facility

Chronicling 25 Years of Violations: ICE Detention at Plymouth County Correctional Facility is a new report authored by Boston University School of Law’s Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program (“IRHTP”) and Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (“PLS”). BU immprof Sarah Sherman-Stokes led the IRHTP team.

Here is the executive summary of the report:

Consistent complaints over the last twenty-five years reveal a disturbing pattern of systemic abuse and mistreatment of ICE detainees at Plymouth County Correctional Facility. Limited oversight and accountability mechanisms have enabled Plymouth to continue to receive federal funding while simultaneously violating the rights of individuals detained in ICE custody.

Today, individuals detained in ICE custody at Plymouth continue to face unsafe conditions, racism and retaliation from staff, inadequate food, medical care, dental and mental health care, and restricted access to legal counsel and loved ones.

Despite over two decades of documented violations at Plymouth, ICE and Plymouth have continued to renew their contract. The most recent ICE contract renewal expanded Plymouth’s immigrant detention capacity by 35%, alarming advocates and individuals who have directly experienced Plymouth’s decades-long deficiencies. Plymouth is now the only remaining jail in Massachusetts to detain noncitizens in ICE custody and has capacity to detain 402 individuals.

For the first time, this report provides a detailed summary of twenty-five-years of documented violations at Plymouth. Drawing on over two decades of formal and informal investigations and inquiries, reviews by outside agencies and documented internal grievances, this report reveals an alarming disregard for the safety and wellbeing of those detained at Plymouth.

This report adds to that history the voices and experiences of more than sixty men detained by ICE at Plymouth. These interviews confirm that the aforementioned issues persist; civil rights violations at Plymouth are a feature, not a bug. Despite decades of complaints, reports and investigations, the abuses faced by ICE detainees at Plymouth are pervasive and intractable.

We anticipate that ICE and Plymouth will renegotiate their contract at the end of September 2024. In light of these unrelenting violations, this report makes several key recommendations in advance of this contract renegotiation. Full recommendations can be found starting on page 71.

I'm actually in the middle of teaching the detention component of my crimmigration course. I will absolutely be bringing this report into class tomorrow for discussion.

Meanwhile, here's a local news report about this project.

-KitJ

Trump/Harris Spar at Presidential Debate on Immigration Etc.

 

This debate will be remembered by Trump lying about people eating pets, while Harris put him on a leash like he was a little puppy…take him to Springfield! #Debate2024

— Boss (@dj_bossman) September 11, 2024

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debated the issues last night.  As expected, immigration came up on many occasions during the debate (with Trump mentioning the border and immigration enforcement).  Besides blaming the Biden/Harris administration for the border situation, Trump invoked a charge that ImmigrationProf blogged about yesterday.  As reported by the BBC,

"In the hours before the debate, social media was filled with reports of unsubstantiated claims - repeated by JD Vance, Trump's running mate, that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing pets and eating them.

Despite city officials telling the BBC there are no credible reports to support these claims, Trump brought up the matter in the debate.

`They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. This is a shame,' he said."

The Springfield, Ohio City Manager issued a statement this week dismissing rumors about Haitians harming pets and ducks.

Read more on the BBC fact-check on the Springfield claims here.

 

KJ

 

Report -- Held Incommunicado: The Failed Promise of Language Access in Immigration Detention

A report (Held Incommunicado: The Failed Promise of Language Access in Immigration Detention) of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigrant Justice Clinic concludes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not providing sufficient translation services to detainees in its facilities.  Andrea Castillo for the Los Angeles Times discusses the report.   Detainees' main complaints included being unable to ask for medical care and having to rely on other detainees for the translation of sensitive documents.  

The punch line of the report:

"Together, these data paint a clear—and troubling—picture of language access in 125 immigration detention centers that collectively hold approximately 95% of the people that ICE detains.16 Specifically, the data show a nationwide pattern of ICE failing to meet its language access obligations under its own rules and federal law. This report also sheds new light on the  wide-ranging harms and often life-altering consequences of this failure for the [Limited English Proficient (LEP)] people that ICE detains. And, while this report does not cover other aspects of language access in immigration detention or with respect to other agencies involved in the immigration legal system, its findings suggest the need for closer examination of the government’s compliance with its language access obligations in these contexts as well.

The findings in this report are critical, both due to the importance of language access to LEP individuals’ fundamental needs and rights and because the very nature of ICE’s language access failures makes it effectively impossible for detained LEP
individuals to raise, challenge, or remedy these problems on their own. As such, this report concludes with recommendations for the federal government and other actors to respond to the urgent problems that this study reveals."

KJ

Resources on Labor-Based Deferred Action

Professor Mary Yanik shared information that Tulane, NIPNLG, NILC, Organized Power in Numbers, & Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center have released an updated version of the immigration practice manual on Labor-Based Deferred Action (also known as DALE). This update shares lessons learned from this practice over the past one and a half years, information on the process for renewals and extensions, advising in light of the upcoming election, and so more. We also link to updated exhibits with example applications and an online chart with information on state/local agencies, referral resources, and guestworker grace periods.

Two  additional DALE resources:  (1) to join a listserv of attorneys, organizers, and advocates sharing information and updates on DALE,  email [email protected]; and (2) Law Student DALE Orientation (registration link)webinar on Friday, September 6, 12:30 to 2pm EST.

KJ

17 Best Law Schools For Immigration Law

Lexinter Law Directory lists the 17 best law schools for immigration:

Harvard 

Yale

Stanford

Maryland

UC Berkeley

NYU

Michigan

Columbia

Georgetown

UCLA

UC Davis

Penn

University of Texas 

Virginia

Chicago

Duke

Cornell

KJ

 

 

 

 

Position Opening: Director of the BC Defender Clinic

BOSTON COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL seeks entry level or lateral applicants for a faculty position as Director of the BC Defender Clinic, a criminal defense trial clinic. Under the supervision of the Clinic Director, BC Defender Clinic students represent indigent clients charged with crimes and probation violations in the Boston Municipal Court (Dorchester Division) at every stage of the case, including jury trials. The BC Defender Clinic is part of a criminal justice clinical program that includes a prosecution clinic operating in a different county. Teaching responsibilities will include the BC Defender Clinic seminar and a fall semester class, co-taught by the Directors of the BC Defender and BC Law Prosecution Clinics, where prosecution and defense clinic students come together for skills training, professional discernment, and reflection on broader themes relating to ethics and justice. This position is a full-time faculty position. Candidates may apply on the long-term contract track, where they will be eligible to apply for renewable long-term contracts with tenure-equivalent security, or the tenure track, where they may apply for promotion based on the University statutes. Applicants must possess a JD or equivalent law degree. Experience in criminal defense trial practice and/or teaching in a criminal defense trial clinic is required. Candidates must also possess a commitment to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; a collaborative spirit; and substantial organizational and management skills. A successful applicant must be or become a member of the Massachusetts bar. Boston College, a Jesuit, Catholic university and the first institution of higher education operating in Boston, is today among the nation’s foremost universities. The Law School, founded in 1929 and located in Newton, Massachusetts, approximately 7 miles west of downtown Boston, is informed by traditions of academic rigor, service to others and the greater good, and personal and professional formation of its students. Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process. Boston College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected under federal, state or local law. We strongly encourage those who would enrich the diverse perspectives of our academic community to apply. To learn more about how Boston College supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university, please visit the Office of Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/offices/human-resources/sites/oid/About-Us.html. Interested applicants should contact: Professor Sharon Beckman, Chair, Appointments
Committee (Clinical), at [email protected] or at Boston College Law School, 885 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02459.

KJ

Cornell Law School Seeks a DACA Staff Attorney

Cornell Law School is seeking to hire a staff attorney to collaborate with and contribute to Path2Papers, a new deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) project at Cornell Law School. The selected candidate will consult with DACA beneficiaries about their visa options with a focus on employment-based options. They will also advise employers and law firms on employment visa options for DACA beneficiaries. The selected candidate may also prepare and file various immigration applications for DACA recipients in conjunction with the Immigration Law & Advocacy Clinic. 

Here is the job listing.

This position may be part-time or full time, with a minimum of approximately 25 hours a week with an anticipated start date for the position in late August or September 2024.

Interested applicants should submit a CV, detailed cover letter, the names of and contact information for three references, and one or more writing samples here.

The deadline to apply is August 30, 2024. 

Check out the job description for details.

KJ

Immigration Justice Fellowship Established at Pace Law

Professor Vanessa Merton

The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University has created the Vanessa Merton Immigration Justice Fellowship, a key component of the school’s Immigration Justice Clinic focused on ensuring the legal system’s just treatment of immigrants in the Hudson Valley and local New York Metropolitan region. 

Through the generosity of her family, the Immigration Justice Fellowship was established in honor of Professor Vanessa Merton, founder and recently retired director of the Immigration Justice Clinic. She has been a visionary providing leadership and advocacy in support of the clinic’s important mission for nearly two decades. The Fellow will serve as a liaison between the clinic, immigration organizations and the migrant community helping to connect those in need with free legal services, resources or referrals.

UPDATE (7/18):  After posting information about the fellowship, I learned that Professor Merton had passed away.  Here is a digital Festschrift. in her honor  

KJ

Immigration Job Openings

See the job description for the American Immigration Council, which is hiring a litigation staff attorney or senior litigation staff attorney. The position requires at least three years of relevant legal experience, so please help spread to word to your former students who might be mid-career and interested in this position!

 

The Cardozo School of Law’s Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic  is interested in hiring an attorney to serve as a Clinical Teaching Fellow to begin in December 2024.  Past fellows have generally had 3–5 years of practice experience prior to coming to the clinic and have generally worked with the clinic for 2–3 years. The annual salary for fellows is $75,000 with full benefits.  The full job posting is attached.

KJ

Center for International Human Rights Law & Advocacy at the University of Wyoming College of Law Legal Fellow

The Center for International Human Rights Law & Advocacy at the University of Wyoming College of Law is hiring a Legal Fellow to begin in the fall of 2024. The Robert J. Golten Fellowship was created in 2013 to honor the work of Bob Golten, a leader in the field of international human rights law who inspired generations of human rights advocates and immigration lawyers and helped to found the Center for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy at the University of Wyoming.  Here is the listing.

KJ