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May 2, 2015
Ending Immigrant Family Detention: Non-Litigation Advocacy 2015
From August 2014 to May 2015, the Clinic partnered with grassroots and community-based organizations and immigration advocates to call for the end of the Department of Homeland Security’s new practice of detaining immigrant families of women and children. Clinic students drafted advocacy materials, attended hearings, and conducted research on numerous potential legal claims. The Clinic […] -
April 24, 2015
Starting in 2006 with the opening of the federal government’s T. Don Hutto family immigration detention center in Taylor, Texas, the clinic has engaged in impact litigation as well as individual representation to end family detention practices. Working in collaboration with other groups, the clinic succeeded in ending family detention at Hutto in 2009. The […] -
April 24, 2015
Helping Asylum Seekers The clinic handles asylum cases for immigrants seeking protection based on political, religious, or gender-based violence or other persecution in their home countries. Our asylum clients either are detained in Texas detention centers or are living in the Austin area. In recent years, clinic students handled several cutting-edge asylum claims from Mexico […] -
March 3, 2015
After the administration’s implementation of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in June 2012, the clinic led efforts to assist DREAMers in filing applications under the program and developed model materials for group workshops that have been used throughout the country. Clinic students and other volunteers participated in 13 DACA workshops in Austin over a […] -
March 2, 2015
The Clinic is co-counseling with a San Antonio based civil rights and immigration attorney to represent three detained asylum-seekers from Central America, along with a proposed class of detained asylum-seekers detained in the Karnes County family detention facility. The plaintiffs allege that facility personnel employed by The GEO Group, Inc. and officers from the Department […] -
December 2, 2014
In 2013-14, the Clinic co-counseled with criminal defense attorneys to represent a journalist named Barrett Brown who was being prosecuted in federal court in Dallas on a variety of charges, including computer crimes, obstruction of justice, and internet threats. The case involved First Amendment rights to engage in journalism research using internet sources and methods, […] -
September 2, 2014
In the fall of 2014, the Clinic partnered with the ACLU of Texas and the ACLU Border Rights Office to write an issue brief regarding rights violations and abuses at short-term U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities at or near the border. During the summer of 2014, when there was an increase in migrant flows […] -
June 2, 2014
Wrongful Imprisonment and Right to Counsel for the Criminally Accused 2014
In 2013-2014, the Clinic co-counseled with the Texas Fair Defense Project (TFDJ) and private counsel, to represent a Dallas-area resident who was arrested in one county based on a warrant from another county, jailed in violation of state law for twenty two days, and denied access to appointed counsel despite numerous requests. The warrant for […] -
April 24, 2014
The Working Group on Human Rights and the Border Wall prepared a submission to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights highlighting violations of the Right to Property, Non-Discrimination, and Indigenous Rights of Residents of the Texas Rio Grande Valley and the Texas-Mexico Border. -
April 2, 2014
In the spring of 2014, the Clinic partnered with the Texas Fair Defense Project to compile information on national and state standards and best practices relating to criminal representation of juveniles with mental health issues or intellectual or developmental disabilities. TFDP used the research to propose guidelines for the use of social workers at all […]
