Students Use Break for Immigration Work
3/06/06—As part of Boston College Law School’s Immigration Spring
Break Trips, nineteen first-year students spent this year’s spring break
volunteering to provide legal assistance to indigent non-citizens who were in
detention facing deportation. The students went to 5 different locations and
volunteered at 6 non-profit organizations during the spring break week. Students
worked at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) in Seattle, WA; the
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) in Los Angeles, CA; the Pro
Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) in Harlingen, TX, the Capital Area
Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, D.C.; Catholic Charities
in Miami, FL; and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) in Miami, FL.
Prior to the students’ departure, Director of Human Rights Programs Dan
Kanstroom and Boston College Immigration and Asylum Project Staff Attorney Mary
Holper trained them on U.S. immigration law. Holper also accompanied the Texas
group to supervise the students’ work.
Students helped detained asylum-seekers to complete application forms for protection
under U.S. immigration law; assisted staff attorneys with intake interviews
at immigration detention centers; researched human rights conditions to suppport
asylum seekers’ claims of persecution; and drafted motions and legal memoranda
for staff attorneys. The students all gained considerable knowledge of immigration
law and the deportation process, especially as it affects immigrants in detention.
The students’ exhaustive fundraising efforts, through the Law School’s
Public Interest Law Foundation and otherwise, and a generous contribution from
the Dean’s Fund permitted them to make a difference in immigrants’
lives during the spring break week.
“Several students commented that their trips allowed them to do what they
came to law school to do: use their legal skills to assist indigent persons
in need,” said Holper. “As an alum of the immigration spring break
trips (I attended all 3 years when I was a student here), I can say that the
work completed during these spring break trips is incredibly rewarding to both
the students and the clients served.”