The past few weeks have been troubling. From family separations at the border to the travel ban, immigrant communities across the country face increasingly difficult circumstances. HIRC is committed to advocating for the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees, and all others seeking safety in the U.S. We encourage our students, alumni, and the broader community to take…
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The Crimmigration Clinic is now accepting applications for Fall 2018 In the Crimmigration Clinic students work on cutting-edge issues regarding the intersection of criminal law and immigration law. Crimmigration students work on projects like drafting appellate briefs, advising criminal defense attorneys on the potential immigration consequences of criminal charges, and drafting policy memoranda for public defender…
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently upended decades of U.S. legal precedent by asserting that women fleeing domestic violence will not generally qualify for asylum. To do so, he challenged the principle that women victims of domestic violence are members of a “particular social group.” This phrase – “particular social group” – is critical to the work of immigration lawyers like myself.
Statement of Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program on Matter of A-B- issued by Attorney General Sessions on June 11 The June 11 decision issued by Attorney General Sessions in Matter of A-B- is deeply flawed and inconsistent with our domestic and international obligations under the 1980 Refugee Act and the 1967 Protocol to the…
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On April 20th, dozens of HLS alumni and local experts came together to develop model protective policies for sanctuary spaces in the Age of Trump. They considered questions such as: What types of protective strategies can these different institutions employ? What are the legal limits on how far those policies can go? How would protective…
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On April 6, HIRC’s Director Deborah Anker and Assistant Director Sabi Ardalan attended the 2018 Harvard European Law Symposium, “Europe and the US: Isolationism First?” The event brought together leading US and European experts in international trade, migration, antitrust law, integration, data protection, and national security. Professor Anker and Professor Ardalan spoke on the panel…
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On April 4th, HIRC staff attended the Harvard Bridge Program‘s annual dinner, which celebrates Harvard employees who have recently become U.S. citizens. We were honored to take part in this special event and we are proud to say that one of our clients was among those being celebrated. The Bridge Program has been a constant supporter…
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On March 30th, HIRC filed an amicus brief challenging President Trump’s latest immigration order. The brief argues that the travel ban violates federal immigration statutes and that this latest version, like its predecessors, is not based on any exigent situation involving diplomacy or military affairs. It replaces individualized determinations of risk with blanket prohibitions and…
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On March 22nd, HIRC, along with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Venezuelan Caucus, sponsored a discussion on the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. The talk explored the diplomatic strategies of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the legal framework of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the context of human rights violations in Venezuela. This open…
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Working under the direction of HIRC’s Managing Attorney Phil Torrey, Crimmigration Clinic students Clarissa Lehne ’18 and Mike Ewart ’18 successfully argued before the Board of Immigration Appeals that their client’s conviction should not result in his detention and deportation. “It was incredibly rewarding to see a tangible result of the work that we put…
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