A unique opportunity to do pro bono work through a class partners Michigan Law students with Undergraduates in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) to help young immigrants seeking asylum.
The Immigrant Justice Lab (IJL) grew out of an LSA course on the history of immigration, which inspired students to want to help current immigrants. They worked with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) in Ypsilanti to help research country conditions, an important aspect of applications for asylum.
Eventually the professor, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, connected with the Law School’s Professor Bridgette Carr, ’02—at the time, director of the Human Trafficking Clinic. Starting in 2019, the lab began offering a three-credit course—teaming law students with Undergraduates, and having the teams write asylum briefs under the supervision of MIRC attorneys.
“According to our research, this is actually the only class in the country offered in this way, between law students and undergraduates,” says Professor Jessica Lefort, who has been the director of the IJL since 2023.
The class meets weekly. Teams of four students—two law students and two undergraduates—learn about the history of immigration law, legal writing, and asylum law. Then the teams dive into their assigned case.
“By the end, they have produced a polished draft that can span upwards of 60 pages, along with a packet of country conditions sources that are compiled as exhibits,” Lefort says. Although asylum cases tend to move slowly, a number of the lab’s applicants—who are typically unaccompanied minors—have been granted asylum.
In addition to the class, the IJL also supports independent projects. Lefort oversees grant-funded interns and other volunteers who work on projects for MIRC, the ACLU, and other nonprofit agencies.
“We have students who are doing translations of a college preparedness guide for high school students. We created self-help guides and posters in English and Spanish for people who need immigration assistance but can’t afford an attorney,” Lefort says. Other projects include court watching, country conditions research, and updating legal databases.
One goal of the lab is to provide students with an opportunity to do real work for a community partner outside of a traditional clinical setting. Students develop both legal writing and soft skills—like interacting with supervisors, project management, and client-centered lawyering—which can prove useful in professional settings.
The lab also gets Undergraduates interested in law school and gets law students interested in public-interest work. A number of law alumni of the lab are now doing immigration work, while many Undergraduates who took the class are now law students, including two currently at Michigan Law.
Taking the IJL helped Jack Kanarek, ’23, settle on immigration work as his professional specialty; he now works as a staff attorney for MIRC. Kanarek’s IJL team produced an asylum brief for a teen from Guatemala.
“One thing that drew me to the lab and to immigration generally was learning about other cultures and countries—especially when you’re doing asylum work, because so much of those legal arguments are based on what’s happening in that country,” Kanarek says.
“The lab gave me a big head start with asylum work,” he adds. “Having wrestled with these arguments, having made a legal brief, was very helpful to hit the ground running.”
Visit immigrantjusticelab.org for more information on the IJL.
