Nine CUNY School of Law students brought legal education directly to people held in immigration detention as part of Advocacy on the Frontlines, an experiential learning course that puts CUNY Law’s commitment to public interest law into practice.
Professors Marie Mark and Talia Peleg with CUNY Law students before entering a Louisiana detention center to assist detained immigrants.
Under the supervision of Marie Mark, Assistant Professor of Law, and Talia Peleg, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Immigration and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic, the students—Julian Bellinghausen, Zoe Caroline Bayer, Isabel Christine Braham, Ashley Michelle Guaman, Fernando Fuentes Garcia, Emely Marie Mendez, Gerry Carolina Rivadeneira Cruz, Zuleyma Pena, and Steven Vivas—traveled to Louisiana in May 2026, where they provided Know Your Rights information and legal assistance to more than 200 detained immigrants. Many of those individuals were New Yorkers who had been transferred to detention centers in central Louisiana, about four hours from New Orleans and in a relatively isolated area, far from their families, communities, and legal resources amid increased immigration enforcement in New York.
The students developed presentations focused on due process, access to federal courts, and habeas corpus petitions — a legal mechanism people in detention can use to challenge the lawfulness of their confinement. They also answered questions from detained immigrants who were navigating federal court proceedings without attorneys.
The delegation’s work generated important documentation for the ACLU of Louisiana and Federal Defenders, including reports identifying potential constitutional violations and conditions at the detention facilities where the students visited.
Turning Classroom Learning into Direct Service
The experience gave students an opportunity to apply their legal education in a setting where access to counsel and legal information was often limited. During the five-day trip, students identified 18 immigrants with unmet medical needs for follow-up by the ACLU of Louisiana and Federal Defenders.
Nine CUNY School of Law students traveled to Louisiana in May 2026 with Professors Marie Mark and Talia Peleg as part of Advocacy on the Frontlines, providing Know Your Rights information and legal resources to people held in immigration detention. Students pictured: Julian Bellinghausen; Zoe Caroline Bayer; Isabel Christine Braham; Ashley Michelle Guaman; Fernando Fuentes Garcia; Emely Marie Mendez; Gerry Carolina Rivadeneira Cruz; Zuleyma Pena; and Steven Vivas.
For Fernando Garcia ’27, the experience underscored the importance of the human connection at the heart of legal advocacy. “When the law failed, being able to provide some humanity to someone in a soulless, dehumanizing process was one of the best things I was able to do,” he said.
Students also distributed more than 50 pro se habeas instruction packets on site and later mailed an additional 30 pro se legal-help packets to detained people after returning to New York.
“It reminded me that, as future attorneys, we have the responsibility to use our education to make people feel heard, informed, and supported,” said Ashley Gauman ’27, about the responsibility of using one’s legal education to help detained immigrants understand habeas corpus.
CUNY Law students consult with one another in a hotel lobby before returning to a rural Louisiana detention center.
The delegation also demonstrated how experiential learning can deepen students’ understanding of the legal systems they are preparing to navigate as attorneys. Emely Mendez ’27 said the experience of meeting people in detention who had received little or no legal assistance “completely reaffirmed” her dedication to immigrant justice.
Izzy Braham ’27 described listening to detained immigrants recount experiences of family separation, detention conditions, and navigating complex legal cases largely on their own as “a life-changing experience.”
Continuing the Work in New York
The impact of the course has continued beyond the May delegation. The Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic has taken on representation of a New Yorker who has been detained in Louisiana for over a year, advocating for his release and return home to Queens.
Together, the course and the clinic illustrate CUNY Law’s approach to legal education: preparing students to understand the law, and to put that knowledge to work alongside communities facing urgent legal challenges.
For the nine students who traveled to Louisiana, the experience offered a firsthand view of the barriers detained immigrants face — and an opportunity to directly respond with legal information, advocacy, and a commitment to ensuring that people understand and can exercise their rights.