Liala has been a social worker at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program for the past seven years. She provides a multitude of resources to the Program’s clients, such as assisting clients with building support networks, navigating housing and employment issues, and providing emotional support. Liala believes “immigration is good for this country” and is determined to help…
Read more
On August 27, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the appeal of Kenia Martinez-Mejia, a woman from El Salvador who came to the United States after fleeing gender-based and gang violence. Clinical students Benjamin Antillon Fernandez ’21 and Madeline Kane ’21 worked on an amicus brief submitted by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program on October 25, 2019.…
Read more
Want to get the latest news from the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program? Check out our latest newsletter here. In this newsletter, we have updates on policy advocacy and litigation efforts, student and staff achievements, case victories, and more. If you would like to sign up to receive our newsletter via email, you can sign…
Read more
This post was written by summer intern Antonella Portugal. Antonella is a rising senior at Brown University with a double concentration in Political Science and Public Policy. While much of the country has resumed business as usual, COVID-19 cases keep rising. The conditions in immigration detention centers have been criticized by advocates and government officials alike…
Read more
While many businesses and institutions across the country have temporarily closed due to COVID-19, students, staff, and attorneys at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) have continued to work with clients throughout the pandemic. Since all work has moved remote, HIRC has had to adapt to new restrictions and rules in order to…
Read more
As COVID-19 continues to spread, more and more people are feeling the impacts of this pandemic. Detainees face particularly grave health risks and HIRC is working tirelessly to advocate for the release of all immigrants in detention. Recently, HIRC attorneys and students submitted a number of habeas petitions on behalf of clients who are currently…
Read more
Though Massachusetts is far from the Southern border, many immigrants are still detained across the state. Until recently, one of those detainees was John*, a man who was tortured in his home country in East Africa. John ended up in detention because certain criminal convictions triggered the deportation process and eventually led his case to…
Read more
People sometimes ask what motivates HIRC student advocates to work on immigration cases during our busy law school semesters. The answer is simple: our clients. It is impossible to have a bad day after spending time with the asylum-seekers we represent at HIRC. No one embodies this more than Antonio*, a young man who fled…
Read more
Students who work at HIRC come to the Clinic with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. For some students, it may be their first time working directly with clients, while for others it might be their first time engaging with immigration law or appearing in court. For Krista Oehlke ’20, that day came in June…
Read more
On May 9th, Temporary Clinical Instructor Nate MacKenzie and clinical students Nora Picasso Uvalle LLM ’19 and Carolina Perez Feuerstein arrived at the Boston Immigration Court with their client and her family. They had submitted a massive, 650 page file that detailed how Isabel* and her children had faced severe persecution at the hands of…
Read more