Program Overview

Immigrants have complicated relationships with law and government in the United States. Immigration, both legal and undocumented, has been one of the foundations of economic and cultural development throughout U.S. history. However, it is also true that immigrants are targeted as scapegoats by law-makers during times of real and illusory threat to U.S. national and economic security. Law becomes the instrument by which immigrants are deported and exploited, families are split, and communities of color, particularly, are subject to subordination. The Immigrant and Refugee Rights Clinic (IRRC) represents individual and groups of immigrants asserting their right to exist in the U.S. without fear, exploitation and subordination. Through the representation of immigrants, we train law students to be excellent public interest lawyers.

IRRC was one of the first immigration law clinics in the nation and has a distinguished record of litigation and policy advocacy. Prior incarnations of the clinic have focused on protecting immigrants’ access to public benefits and expansion of the legal category of asylum claims on the basis of gender oppression. Current faculty have practice backgrounds and scholarly interests in the following areas: defense of asylum-seekers in deportation proceedings, defense against deportation of legal permanent residents with criminal convictions, immigrant workers’ rights, and litigation under the Violence Against Women Act. The clinic is agile because we attempt to meet evolving community need and because we wish to model a practice of law that is flexible rather than fixed.