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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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.
On January 27th, a group of Harvard students held the inaugural human rights symposium Human Rights: Adapting to the Challenges of Our Times at the Kennedy School of Government. The Symposium was an opportunity for activists, scholars, and students to come together to discuss the challenges, and potential collaborations, for human rights movements across the globe. HIRC…
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Join the Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change for “Turkey and the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Responses and Perspectives” on Tuesday, January 30th from 12 – 1 pm. Since 2011, Turkey has received more than 3 million Syrian refugees, the largest community of Syrians displaced by the conflict. This has had significant economic, political, security, social,…
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On October 27th, in honor of the bicentennial celebration of the Harvard Law School, HIRC led a conversation on gender asylum titled “Women Refugees And Why Law Matters.” The session, which was organized and moderated by HIRC’s Sabi Ardalan (HLS’02), brought together a diverse group of speakers who offered unique perspectives on the state of…
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As you may have heard, there have been nationwide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting people living in areas that have designated themselves as ‘sanctuary cities.’ The sweeps have resulted in several hundred arrests across the country, and it is believed that approximately 50 people were arrested in Massachusetts. We have information that one…
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On September 24, President Trump issued a new proclamation restricting travel to the United States from eight countries— Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Venezuela, and North Korea. On Monday, the Supreme Court cancelled oral arguments scheduled for October 10 on the consolidated cases related to the previous iteration of Trump’s travel ban and will…
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HIRC Assistant Director Sabi Ardalan shares her thoughts on the contributions refugees make to the U.S.
Harvard Law School Report offers strategy for enhancing security, job creation, and equal treatment for all Cambridge, MA (June 28, 2017) – At a time when the U.S. refugee admissions program is under serious threat and the world’s displaced population is at its highest, over 65 million, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program has…
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HIRC’s Syrian Refugee Resettlement Project report is cited in this Op-Ed in the New York Times.