Students will help asylum seekers prepare petitions for asylum, using information provided by applicants in written packets and during phone interviews. Asylum is available to immigrants who have fled their home countries because of persecution and/or torture due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Organization
Mithoff Pro Bono Program
The Pro Se Asylum Clinic is an internal project of the Mithoff Pro Bono Program, hosted in partnership with Casa Marianella. Casa Marianella provides shelter, food, and full supportive services to homeless immigrants in Austin, as well as immigration legal services for residents and former residents.
Project Details
- Project Date
Saturday, April 17
- Project Time
- 9am-5pm
- Approximate hours of work requested
- 9-11 hours, including training; Attorney review of the draft application will be completed within 72 hours of the clinic, and volunteers may be asked to make revisions after the clinic based on attorney feedback
- Training
- Tuesday, April 13, 3pm-4pm (Zoom link via Canvas); students are strongly encouraged to participate in the live training session, which will include an opportunity to ask questions, but the recorded training session will be provided to students who cannot attend the live training
- Skills used
- Client interviewing; document preparation/review
- Project location
- Virtual
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 8
- Class year preference
- 1L, 2L, 3L, LLM
- Required skills
- Previous immigration law experience helpful; Foreign language skills are helpful but not required, as students who do not speak the same language as the applicant they are working with will have access to a translation service
- To Apply
- Submit email with the subject line “Asylum volunteer interest” to Sarah Sedgwick at ssedgwick@law.utexas.edu , include your Spanish language skills (if applicable) and whether or not you are currently residing in the Austin area