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The Immigration Law and Advocacy Clinic focuses on innovative work on behalf of undocumented and DACA communities through the Path2Papers Project and on advocacy for detained immigrants and asylum seekers.
In the spring semester, first-year students enroll in the clinic, which is one of only two 1L-focused clinical courses in the nation. Advanced students may enroll in their 2L and/or 3L year with permission of the instructor.
Work in the clinic focuses on three areas:
Part of the legal team that worked on cases for a family of siblings living in upstate New York. The 1L clinic students worked tirelessly to file individual asylum applications for these clients in spring 2023, who then had their interviews in April. Several months later we got the good news that they were granted asylum! Pictured from left: Katie Rahmlow ’23, client, client, Don Izekor ’23, Prof Alisa Whitfield, interpreter (Cornell CIS ’26), Prof. Kelley-Widmer, client, Amy Godshall ’23.
Clinic client in the Galapagos Islands after the clinic won her advance parole (travel permission).
Aaliyah Channer ’25 and Oscar Ruiz ’25 delivered a presentation on immigration law to a local community group with Professor Kelley-Widmer.
A clinic client visited her hometown and extended family thanks to the travel permission the clinic helped her apply for.
Clinic student George Palau ’24 presents “Know Your Rights” to the students of Open Doors English, an Ithaca language instruction school.
From left: Professor Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer and copresenter Amadou Fofana give an Undocu-Ally training to Cornell staff.
Clinic client and Cornell grad student with the naturalization certificate he obtained through help from the clinic.
The clinic partners with a wide range of local and national organizations. Collaborating with legal aid attorneys, community organizers, and other advocates allows the clinic to take on a wider variety of matters and contribute to the critical work of our partners.
The clinic takes on various cases and projects for the upstate New York immigrant community, often with local immigration providers including:
The clinic dedicates part of its docket to advocacy for detained immigrants. We work alongside legal service providers and organizers to amplify access to counsel and legal information by both representing individual clients and providing Know Your Rights presentations in detention centers.
Students in the 1L Immigration Law and Advocacy Clinic traveled to Louisiana in fall 2023 to assist detained immigrants with attorneys from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the ACLU of Louisiana. They had the opportunity to meet with dozens of individuals from all over the world to assess their immigration cases.
In 2023, the clinic started a project with the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI) of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Clinic students and faculty spent a week in and around Alexandria, Louisiana, providing legal orientation presentations and consultations for detained immigrants. See the student VLOG from the trip.
The initial trip was part of a longer-term collaboration with SIFI involving follow-up trips and ongoing legal work for detained clients. This work is supported by funding from a Just Futures Team Research Grant from Mellon Foundation Just Futures Initiative and Global Cornell.
Clinic students and Professor Kelley-Widmer with a client and her daughter outside the Buffalo Immigration Court.
In partnership with the Dilley Pro Bono Project, students spent their 2019 winter break providing legal services to mothers and children detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The trip was covered extensively on local radio and in a student vlog about the trip. Other news stories include “I’ll Never Forget”: Cornell Law Students On Border, Heading To Tijuana and Cornell Law Students Saw Signs Of Trauma Among Children At US-Mexico Border.
“This course was the most amazing experience I’ve had at Cornell Law School. I’m not sure I will ever have an experience as formative as this one again, but I am eternally grateful for the effort both faculty put into guiding us through this clinic and giving us the opportunities to engage with real legal substance by doing genuine work. This clinic reminded me of the reasons why I elected to attend law school in the first place — namely, the fact that I wanted to utilize my resources and my opportunities to fight for those who’ve gone unheard and undefended for far too long. This clinic was a bright spot in my first year — one that has likely altered the trajectory of my legal career in a radical way.”
~Nathaniel Squires ’25
“I am incredibly grateful for my experience in the clinic. I’ve learned so many new skills and perspectives that have forever changed my understanding of what it means to be a good advocate.”
~Lucy Oh ’25
“Having the opportunity to work with clients and present to community members about immigration policy changes transformed my first year … and prepared me for the summer job search in a way no other first-year experience could have.”
~Camilah Hamideh ’22
“Working on the ground in Dilley, Texas, gave me invaluable experience beyond the classroom setting. It made me a better advocate and taught me an incredible amount about the intricacies of asylum law.”
~Emily Szopinski ’20
“Working with asylum seekers was the most rewarding experience I have had in law school. Because asylum seekers don’t have a right to a lawyer at government expense, I know that the work we did was an incredibly important part of the process to help asylum seekers find safety in the U.S. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity while still in school to put my law degree to good use.”
~Hillary Rich ’19
The clinic does not work on F1 or J1 visa matters and only works on employment-based matters for DACA recipients. Please contact Global Cornell at international@cornell.edu for international student issues and immigration@cornell.edu for immigration needs for scholars.