Category: Cases and Projects

  • The report “Maximizing Justice, Minimizing Delay: Streamlining Procedures of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights” is the result of two years of the Clinic’s work based on statistical analysis and interviews on the duration of the procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It contains a serious and profound diagnosis of the current backlog […]
  • Students worked on the issue of enforced disappearances. During different semesters Clinic students approached the problem from different perspectives, at times focusing on children, women, the situations in particular countries, or the operations of the Working Group. At times the Working Group has used materials prepared by the Human Rights Clinic about disappearances affecting children […]
  • After several stages of consultations, a group of human rights and equality experts agreed upon The Declaration of Principles on Equality. The Declaration reflects a moral and professional consensus among these experts. The principles are based on concepts and jurisprudence developed in international, regional and national legal contexts. They are intended to assist the efforts […]
  • 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 […]
  • 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 […]
  • 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 […]
  • 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 […]
  • 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, […]
  • 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 […]
  • 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 […]