Detainee Rights Clinic – 7844

The Detainee Rights Clinic is part of the Center for New Americans and will provide students multifaceted opportunities to advocate and represent for non-citizens who are impacted by either or both the criminal justice system and the immigration deportation system.  

The use of detention in the deportation system has grown dramatically in the last twenty years and has led to a number of important and significant impacts on both immigration law and criminal law systems. The Court is designed to help students understand the substantive law around deportation and how detention is used in the system.  The course will also focus on the interaction between state judicial systems and the federal deportation system. Even though deportation in the abstract is a strictly federal system, it relies and is often intertwined with state systems, especially with its criminal justice system.  Deportation often uses state and county resources to both identify those subject to deportation and even to house and detain them while awaiting physical removal from the United States.   

The course will have opportunities for students to advocate for changes to the current system and to support community groups that will provide legal services to Minnesotans. 

Advocacy may involve creating a state legislative campaign, such as advocating for equal treatment of non-citizens in the state penal system, or creating accountability for the use of county jails to detain immigrations. These efforts may include working with community organizations to draft legislation.  Other opportunities can include working with state agencies, such as the Department of Corrections to create or craft changes to rules. 

Students may also be involved in litigation, through conducting intake for clients, potentially representing clients for clemency in the Minnesota system and co-counsel in immigration courts with partner organizations.  This could include bond hearings, agency appeals or other work at court. Projects will include a mixture of representing individuals and organizations or community groups seeking to make broader changes. 

Students will also be required to make a community presentation to various audiences that may include lawyers, bar associations, or impacted communities.  These presentations may be part of a CLE with attorneys as the audience, or it may involve non-lawyer audiences such as community organizations. 

Additional Commitments: 

• Weekly status meetings with Prof. Chan and the student director assigned to any particular file are required throughout the entire academic year. 
• Present at least two informational sessions with Community Groups.
• Participate in two county jail visits to help conduct intake with those held in ICE detention. 

NOTE: This course requires certification pursuant to the student practice rule and is open to JD students only.