Immigrants’ Rights Clinic
Students in the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic have represented scores of immigrants facing deportation, including asylum-seekers, immigrants with prior criminal convictions, immigrant survivors of crime, and undocumented migrants with longstanding ties to the United States. Under the direction of Professor Jayashri Srikantiah and Clinic Supervising Attorney Lisa Weissman-Ward, clinic students have litigated cases in the immigration courts, the federal district courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Students have also engaged in cutting edge impact litigation and advocacy to advance immigrants’ rights.
IRC Featured on MLC Blog
IRC Wins Asylum on Behalf of Central American Refugee
Former IRC students Natalia Renta (JD ’15), Al Montelongo (JD ’15), Deepa Kannappan (JD ’16), and Christine Yoon (JD ’16) assisted Luisa,* who fled El Salvador to escape domestic and gang-based violence. Natalia and Al worked closely with Luisa over the Spring 2014 quarter to develop her case. Luisa had never…
Read MoreAn Inside Look at Detention Conditions for Confined Immigrants Awaiting Hearing
SLS Students Represent Client at High-Stakes Hearing
Two MLC Students Awarded Prestigious 2015 Skadden Fellowship
An SLS Alumnus Reflects on the Value of Clinical Education
Ninth Circuit Rules in Favor of Noncitizen in Landmark Immigration Case
Report Finds Immigrants Represented by Attorneys Three Times More Likely to Win Deportation Cases
Clinic Recieves CLAY award
Congratulations to the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and Professor Jayashri Srikantiah, recipients of the CLAY (California Lawyer Attorney of the Year) award for 2014 from California Lawyer magazine! Along with others, the IRC was recognized for its work establishing rights to bond release hearings for immigrants detained for more than six months. With the ACLU, the IRC has been litigating the prolonged detention issue in the Ninth Circuit for many years, through individual cases as well as Rodriguez v. Robbins, a long-standing class action suit for which the U.S. District Court issued a summary judgment ruling requiring automatic bond hearings as soon as immigrants reach six months of detention. Many terrific students have worked on this project over the years, including Michael Kaufman (JD ’07), who has now gone on to work at the ACLU as a lawyer on Rodriguez.
In the News
Lawyers Boost Immigrants’ Chance To Stay
San Francisco Chronicle
A new report out of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic is cited by Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle for it's conclusion that immigrants represented by attorneys are three times more likely to win their deportation cases. Of the thousands of immigrants held in custody while awaiting deportation hearings in…
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