Trump Is Rewriting Asylum Law
It’s already difficult to obtain asylum. But the president, for no good reason, is set on making it near-impossible on the southern border.
Heartbreak at the border: Cindy Zapata on her trip to Karnes Detention Center
There are some memories that remain so vivid in my mind. Some of them are obvious ones, like the day I got married and the day my son was born. Others are not so obvious, like the time my mother made me pay for a 5 dollar chicken shawarma in dimes and nickels. She laughed…
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Student reflections from the border
In August, HLS students Alessandra De La Tejera ’20, Josephine Herman ’20, Evan Hindman ’19, and Andrew Patterson ’20, and HIRC attorneys Sabi Ardalan and Cindy Zapata spent a week in Texas volunteering with RAICES, an organization that offers free and low-cost immigration legal services in Central and South Texas. They worked at the Karnes…
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HIRC intern leads discussion on the struggle of African asylum seekers in Israel
On Wednesday, September 26th, HIRC and the Harvard African Law Association sponsored a discussion with Mutasim Ali about the plight of African asylum seekers in Israel. Mutasim is a law graduate of the College of Law and Business in Israel and he spent a month interning at HIRC this summer. Speaking to a packed room, Mutasim offered…
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Survived to tell the story
By Mutasim Ali “As our forefathers were in the distant past foreign workers in countries, not theirs, and in the recent past were knocking on the gates of various countries fleeing the Nazi enemy, and were rejected – we are required to apply the relevant legal rules with compassion and sensitivity to all involved ‘victims…
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How you can help
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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Why domestic abuse and anti-gay violence qualify as persecution in asylum law
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.
HIRC releases statement on the decision in Matter of A-B-
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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Trump administration tries to curb asylum
“Deborah Anker, a Harvard Law School professor who specializes in asylum, said Sessions’ office declined to identify the decision he was reviewing, initially leaving lawyers without a way to respond to his request for arguments.”
Assistant director Sabi Ardalan attends NYLS Immigration and Asylum Conference
On February 23, HIRC’s assistant director Sabrineh Ardalan took part in the New York Law School’s Immigration and Asylum Conference. Sabi participated in a discussion on particular social groups. The conversation explored the BIA and federal court developments refining the concept of persecution on account of membership in a particular social group. She was joined by Dree Collopy,…
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