Advocacy Projects

Students enrolled in the IRC act as attorneys representing immigrants' rights organizations on specific advocacy efforts. The listing below highlights a handful of student IRC advocacy projects.

Pro Se U Visa Manual

Oliver Kroll (‘13) and Chris Skelton (‘13) collaborated with Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, California to develop a pro se U Visa manual in English and Spanish to help pro se immigrants in Northern California detention centers apply for U Visas.  A U Visa is a generous form of legal relief for non-citizens who have been victims of serious crimes in the United States and have cooperated with law enforcement.  The manual is the first of its kind in the country.  To create the manual, Oliver and Chris visited the Richmond Detention Facility, interviewed detainees, and researched the requirements of the U Visa.  They then designed the manual, complete with easy-to-follow pictures and diagrams, to explain the legal requirements and walk detainees through the process of applying for the visa on their own.  Oliver and Chris also tested earlier drafts of the manual with the detainees at Richmond, collaborating with the detainees to ensure that the manual addresses their concerns and questions.  The pro se U Visa manual will assist pro se detainees in accessing much-needed immigration relief.


Report - Deportation Without Due Process

Professor Jayashri Srikantiah and the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic (Stanford IRC), along with attorneys and law professors at Western State University College of Law and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) released a report synthesizing information obtained from the never-before-released U.S. government documents and data about stipulated removal, a program by which the U.S. government deports immigrants without a hearing before a judge. Many of the government records reveal that the stipulated removal program has been implemented across the U.S. in a way that is likely to infringe immigrants' due process rights.

Over the past decade, the United States government has dramatically expanded its use of stipulated removal, resulting in the deportation over 160,000 non-U.S. citizens without hearings.

Stanford IRC and NILC, on behalf of clients NILC, National Lawyers Guild-San Francisco, and the ACLU of Southern California, sued to get more information about this program under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Prior to the lawsuit, the stipulated removal program had operated largely outside the public eye.

Stanford IRC students Eunice Cho, Vivian Wang, and John Harabedian contributed to the FOIA litigation.

Policy Brief - Community-Based Alternatives to Immigration Detention

Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic issued a report on behalf of Detention Watch Network calling on the Obama administration to reduce the unprecedented rate of immigration detention by adopting cost-effective, community-based alternatives that have already been implemented internationally and domestically. According to the report, pilot programs in the United States and abroad have demonstrated that community-based alternatives to detention are cheaper, more effective, and more humane than the current U.S. immigration detention system. Clinic students Stephen Dekovich, Michelle Parris, Michelle Reaves, and Jessica Spradling were instrumental in the drafting of this report.

Advocacy Report on Profiling at the Border

On April 20, 2009, the Asian Law Caucus and Immigrants’ Rights Clinic issued a 56 page report making key recommendations geared towards ending intrusive profiling practices targeting U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.  The report entitled,

“Returning Home: How U.S. Government Practices Undermine Civil Rights At Our Nation’s Doorstep” (FILE MISSING ON LIVE SITE)

addresses how profiling practices by the United States government at the nation’s borders have undermined civil liberties and diverted law enforcement attention from those individuals who may actually present a threat. The report also features first hand accounts of individuals ranging from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to therapists counseling impoverished mentally ill patients, all of whom experienced unjust racial profiling at the U.S. border. IRC students Hewan Teshome (’08) and Anna Finn (’08) conducted research and interviews, and drafted portions of this landmark report.

Kawashima v. Mukasey Amicus Brief

The Immigrants’ Rights Clinic submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the American Immigration Lawyers Association to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in opposition to the government’s petition for rehearing en banc in Kawashima v. Mukasey, 530 F.3d 1111 (9th Cir. 2008). Ling Lew (’09) and Mindy Jeng (’09) worked on the brief, which raised a cutting edge issue in immigration law—how immigration courts should evaluate prior fraud convictions. The IRC’s brief argued that the immigration courts should continue to apply a categorical approach when determining whether noncitizens face deportation as a result of certain criminal convictions.

Local Law Enforcement Project

Katrina Eiland (’10), Michelle Parris (’10), Tina Cheng (’10) and Brian Goldman (’10) worked with Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR), a community-based organization in Hayward, California, to investigate concerns about local law enforcement agents enforcing federal immigration laws, and to provide COR with recommendations for potential legislative solutions. Katrina and Michelle developed and led several community-based events, conducted in Spanish, to gain firsthand information about community residents’ experiences with local police, and authored a report on their findings. Tina and Brian conducted a nationwide analysis of possible legislative solutions to local police-immigration enforcement, and presented their recommendations to community leaders working to prevent local police from enforcing federal immigration laws in Hayward. COR is now well-equipped to conduct local advocacy to obtain an ordinance that prevents police from targeting immigrant communities.

Domestic Violence Shelter Project

Matthew Mao (’10) and Louise Nutt (’10) worked with Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, an agency that serves survivors of domestic violence in Santa Clara County, on a project to enhance battered immigrants’ access to legal representation in the South Bay. After applying their knowledge of the range of immigration remedies available to survivors of domestic violence and familiarizing themselves with Next Door’s woman-defined advocacy model, Matt and Louise revised the process used by Next Door to screen potential clients for eligibility for immigration relief.

Stipulated Removal FOIA Lawsuit

On November 12, 2008, the Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, together with the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California and the National Lawyers Guild of San Francisco filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to gain access to agency records about stipulated removal from DHS and its sub-agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lawsuit also seeks access to records from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR).

Stipulated removal allows the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to remove a non-citizen, even one with valid defenses against deportation, as long as the non-citizen signs an order. DHS appears to target non-citizens in immigration detention for stipulated removal, and does not allow the non-citizen to appear before a judge prior to being deported. Advocates have expressed concerns that immigrants signing these orders do not realize they are giving up their rights to challenge their deportation. For more information about stipulated removal, see the Backgrounder. Click here for the First Amended Complaint.

In response to Plaintiffs’ FOIA request, the government has released the following documents:

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (August 2007)
• Executive Office for Immigration Review (June 2008)
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (September 2008)
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (September 2008)
• Customs and Border Protection (September 2008)

If you have been affected by stipulated removal, please contact the IRC at immigrants.rights@law.stanford.edu.

Raids Op-Ed

IRC students Alison Sylvester ('09) and Julia Weiland ('09) published an op-ed in the San Francisco Daily Journal entitled "Unlawful Immigration Raids Should Trouble All Americans."

Language Access Report

The IRC just issued a white paper entitled, "Limited English Proficient Parents and the Juvenile Justice System: A White Paper on Language Access in San Mateo County, California." Prepared on behalf of IRC client Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE), the white paper joins a small but growing national and state-wide conversation on the ability of Limited English Proficient (LEP) parents with youth in the juvenile justice system to effectively communicate with probation departments about their children's cases. The white paper looks closely at language access issues at the county probation department in San Mateo County, California and presents preliminary recommendations for the County. IRC students Yara Lomeli-Loibl ('09), Kavita Narayan ('08), Alice Yuan ('08) and Ruthie Zemel ('09) worked on the report, building off earlier work performed for AACRE by former IRC students Liz Morris ('08), Hillary Ley ('07) and Olga Kuskova ('07).

Know-Your-Rights Brochure About Welfare Law and Immigrants

Yulia Garteiser ('05) and Nick Jabbour ('05) developed a "know-your-rights" brochure in collaboration with Bay Area Legal Aid in San Jose which explained the California's Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI). The brochure explains California's Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), a program that provides monthly financial assistance to certain elderly, blind, or disabled non-citizens who are not eligible for other benefits solely due to their immigration status. Before the creation of the brochure, potential immigrant applicants were either unaware of the program or feared there may be consequences for their immigration status. Garteiser and Jabbour developed a know-your-rights brochure about CAPI to increase public awareness of the program and encourage immigrants to apply for benefits to which they are entitled.

Immigrant Raids Know Your Rights Materials

In January 2008, the IRC completed a major project for its client, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). Clinic students Ling Lew ('09), Mindy Jeng ('09), Laura Hurtado ('09) and Eunice Cho ('09) worked with the ILRC developing materials to protect immigrants at risk of apprehension during Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on their homes.

Lew and Jeng researched and prepared "know your rights" materials to educate immigrants about their legal rights during a raid. The materials include a "red card" that immigrants can give to ICE agents during a raid in order to preserve their rights, such as the right not sign documents in the absence of a lawyer. Cho and Hurtado researched and drafted a model Motion to Suppress Evidence, which ILRC intends to use to train pro bono attorneys in the Bay Area who have expressed interest in representing immigrants arrested during immigration raids. The Motion requests that an Immigration Judge suppress evidence that is illegally collected through egregious violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and through violations of agency regulations.

Pro bono VAWA Clinic

Sonya Sanchez ('06), Susan Park ('06), Gloria Borges ('07), and Aravinda Seshadri ('06) developed and launched a VAWA pro bono project in collaboration with a local domestic violence shelter, NextDoor Solutions. In the spring 2005 semester, Sanchez and Parks conducted a feasibility assessment for NextDoor by reviewing relevant laws, pro bono resources, and other successful pro bono programs. Based on their findings, Seshadri, Borges, and Sanchez developed and led a training session for law firm lawyers on representing immigrant survivors of domestic violence. As a result of their efforts, NextDoor Solutions now works with local law firms to provide pro bono assistance to immigrant clients.

Grassroots Organizing Goals

Nicole Janisiewicz ('06) and Adam Anderson ('06) worked with the Bay Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition (BAIRC) to help develop BAIRC's organizing goals as part of its first annual meeting. Janisiewicz and Anderson wrote white papers about various immigration issues that BAIRC identified as possible focus areas and represented the IRC at BAIRC's annual meeting.

Legal Observer Toolkit on Vigilante Project

Chris Walker ('06) and Shani Moore ('07) worked with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project to help develop a toolkit for legal observers as part of the ACLU's Vigilante Watch project. In the past several years, anti-immigrant vigilante activity has escalated at the United States–Mexico border. Immigrants' rights groups responded by training and sending legal observers to the border; observers' notes then form the basis for further advocacy work. Walker and Moore developed detailed legal memoranda about border law governing the behavior of migrants and vigilantes. In addition, they also visited the border themselves and wrote a compelling editorial piece about their observations.

Indefinite Detention Cases

In January 2008, the IRC, along with co-counsel American Civil Liberties Union, presented arguments in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of two immigrant men held indefinitely in immigration detention pending resolution of their deportation cases. These latest efforts are part of a legal challenge against indefinite detention that IRC and ACLU began back in November 2006 when they filed lawsuits in district court seeking the release of four immigrant men held in indefinite detention. Mark Baller ('08), Kimere Kimball ('08) and Michael Kaufman ('07) developed arguments presented in briefs and at oral argument.