Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights

Enrollment permitting, a group of students in the INCR clinic will focus on immigrant women and gender violence and will do so in an interdisciplinary environment. The course will examine domestic violence in marginalized communities and the unique barriers women must confront in accessing support. We will work with social work students to provide comprehensive support to survivors of violence. We will track the genesis of the immigration remedies for this group and we will look at policy matters contrasting initial Congressional intent to provide immigration relief as a matter national interest with the post 9/11 mentality of rewarding only "deserving victims." We will study immigration remedies for gender violence including political asylum, self-petitions and cancellation of removal under the Violence Against Women Act and U- visas. Your primary individual casework will fall into these areas. Project work will give us opportunities to engage with community based organizations in non-traditional lawyering roles with an eye toward furthering their mission.