The 3rd floor wing of Wasserstein Hall that houses the Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic is often a hub of activity. But last Friday, it was packed to capacity. Students perched on the arms of couches, crowded in corners, and angled for space around a small table. The call had gone out looking…
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The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) filed an amicus curiae brief today in the Eastern District of New York case against President Trump’s Muslim Ban, one of several cases currently challenging the president’s actions on immigration. The case, Darweesh v. Trump, focuses on the President’s authority to ban entry into the United States on…
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The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic released a report today on the effects of President Trump’s Executive Orders on people seeking asylum protection in the United States under long-standing provisions of U.S. and international law, including refugee law and the Convention Against Torture. In the wake of the Executive Orders, media attention has focused largely on…
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All Maribel had wanted was to work in a beauty salon in her home country of Honduras, maybe one day doing well enough to open a salon of her own. Hair and nails, or maybe just nails since manicures are her specialty. Maribel (not her real name; all names in this article have been changed to protect confidentiality) dreamt of using the money to put her five-year-old daughter in a good school, and finally move into a two-bedroom apartment of their own, far from the cramped room they shared in the two-room shack in the slums of Tegucigalpa.
In the wake of the presidential election in November and after last week’s executive orders by President Donald Trump restricting immigration, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program has been addressing the related legal concerns of Harvard students, faculty, staff, and affected individuals in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The clinic is also focusing on policy questions through litigation and legislative advocacy.
The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic Program is currently accepting applications for the Albert M. Sacks Clinical Teaching and Advocacy Fellowship. The fellowship will provide an opportunity for an attorney to work on direct representation of individuals applying for asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection, starting in the summer of 2017. The Fellow, who will be housed…
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Dilapidated storefronts line the main street of the little-known border town of Dilley, Texas. The flat, tortilla colored landscape features scattered billboards for the disproportionate number of sprawling gas stations and empty motels in the area, vestiges of an oil boom in the 1980s. Now, the forgotten space is home to the South Texas Family…
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On my first day at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, clinical attorney Maggie Morgan asked me to remember, while translating, to always speak in the first person. We want their true voice to come through, as unfiltered as possible. Over the next month I echoed the brave narratives of each asylum-seeker client, allowing any…
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Maggie Morgan, Albert M. Sacks Clinical & Advocacy Fellow at HIRC, sat down with us to discuss the history and future of healthcare options for documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States. In particular, Maggie explains the protection and limitations under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Read a Recent Publication by Maggie Morgan on a…
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Throughout this summer, we’ve sat down and interviewed interns at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic. In their individual videos, they speak on the joys, challenges, and surprises they have encountered over the past few months. Our Summer 2016 interns come from around the world to learn and grow at HIRC. Meet Dan! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAs-ocVf4Y Meet Brianna! Meet…
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