Center News

Professor Linus Chan, James H.

Mahmoud Ahmed, Education, Community, Outreach and Research Coordinator at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, has been named a fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC). Alongside this prestigious fellowship, Ahmed has begun a Master of Human Rights (MHR) degree at the University’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts.

Minnesota Law’s Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic (FILC) — part of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans— has partnered with the American Immigration Council to publish a new practice advisory to assist practitioners in advocating for noncitizen clients before the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) and the U.S. Courts of Appeals, particularly in cases in which the government contends that a criminal conviction renders the client removable from the United States.

Professor Linus Chan, the James H. Binger Professor of Clinical Law, has been named a Minnesota Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer in the Group category for his participation in "Immigration Attorneys for Drivers Licenses for All."

Two University of Minnesota Law School clinics—the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic (FILC) and the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic (CRA Clinic)—have joined together with the Houston-based law firms Gonzalez Olivieri LLC and Waterhouse, Dominguez & Strom PLLC to represent a noncitizen before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Clinics’ client, Mr.

After years of work, the Binger Center for New Americans has achieved key objectives to protect the rights of noncitizens subject to immigration custody. The Binger Center’s work—spearheaded by the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic (FILC), the Detainee Rights Clinic (DRC), and some of the Center’s nonprofit and law firm partners—has focused on noncitizens with criminal histories who are spending years in mandatory civil immigration detention in Minnesota with little opportunity to meaningfully challenge their custody.

Students in the Detainee Rights Clinic (DRC) recently scored a major victory for a client formerly from El Salvador who has been seeking asylum for nearly a decade.

The clinic began representing the person in 2014, one of its first clients. Clinic leaders secured the person’s release from detention to stay deportation. Over the next few years, students worked with faculty to win an appeal at the Board of Immigration that opened a pathway for asylum.

Professor Linus Chan has been appointed the James H. Binger Clinical Professor of Law.  The Board of Regents also recently approved his promotion to the rank of clinical professor of law.  His clinical work focuses on removal defense for those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is widely recognized for his work on behalf of his clients and for his work with students. From 2021 to 2023, he was the Law School's Vaughan G.

Profs. Linus Chan and Caleb Smith have both been promoted to the rank of clinical professor of law. Profs.

Nadia Anguiano '17 has been named associate clinical professor of law and director of the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic beginning this May. 

Currently a visiting assistant clinical professor, Anguiano has been serving as as director of Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic on an interim basis. With this appointment, she is now a member of the Law School’s permanent, full-time faculty.