COVID-19
Visit https://virusinfo.psu.edu/back-to-state/ for more information on Penn State's coronavirus response. For information specific to the Penn State Law community, visit https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/back-to-state.
Visit https://virusinfo.psu.edu/back-to-state/ for more information on Penn State's coronavirus response. For information specific to the Penn State Law community, visit https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/back-to-state.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Law in University Park Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC) continued to produce impactful work on immigration-related matters in fall 2020. Though operating remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CIRC was able to: assist in the production of affidavits, country conditions reports, and legal briefs in three asylum cases; prepare a client seeking refugee protection for trial; organize a virtual townhall; develop fact sheets on the proposed immigration rule impacting international students; develop a training module for educators and administrators on immigration; develop a welcoming video with the State College Municipality centered on international students and families; and develop policy recommendations for the incoming Biden administration.
We are proud to present short accounts of the work of CIRC during the fall 2020 semester:
Third-year J.D. student Kristy Davis talked about her experience working with Equal Access Legal Services and CIRC: “Meeting with clients and witnesses throughout the semester to discuss their stories and draft their statements for court was an extremely humbling experience as I heard the vulnerable stories that were the root of their decisions to seek asylum here. These stories, coupled with the in-depth research we were doing on the countries that each person seeking asylum was originally from allowed me to truly see the dire circumstances that each person was fleeing from and added even more purpose to the work I was doing in CIRC. Being able to work and serve these vulnerable populations under the supervision of Dean Wadhia was the most impactful and useful experience of my law school career so far."
The Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic is a nationally recognized in-house clinic that provides law students with hands-on clinic training in immigration law through three pillars: community outreach and education, pro bono legal support, and policy work. CIRC is directed by its founder, Dean Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, and has been training students for careers in immigration law since 2008.
Advanced clinical student Bianca Gutierrez, looking back on her two semesters in CIRC, noted its impact on her: “As the daughter of an immigrant family, the topics, discussions and issues we raised in the clinic have motivated me more than ever to build a career centered around advocacy and change.”
For more information on the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, visit its website or contact the clinic at centerforimmigrantsr@pennstatelaw.psu.edu.