Pro Bono Opportunity with SPLC: Legal Tools to Support Immigrants Seeking Freedom from Detention

SABA-DC is excited to share a wonderful pro bono opportunity sponsored by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. This is an opportunity to assist detained asylum seekers and will allow you to explore strategic legal and advocacy tools in immigration law. Lawyers will learn how to effectively wield these tools to make an immediate and positive impact in the lives of detained immigrants who have survived significant hardship in their home countries and are seeking help in being released from detention. By the end of this program, you will be equipped to take on a pro bono case through the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with mentorship from the American Immigration Council’s Immigration Justice Campaign (AIC IJC). Attorneys will help individuals whose “credible fear” interview was denied and prepare arguments to secure release from ICE custody. Pro bono Attorneys will not be required to form an enduring Attorney-Client relationship but can be limited to providing limited but critical legal services. Attorneys will also be able to craft legal work product that can be used (in a redacted form) as a future writing sample.

After the training, SPLC will match interested pro bono attorneys with detained migrants to prepare discrete written submissions with the potential to meaningfully impact their cases by assisting in their efforts to be released from detention. Pro bono attorneys will assist individuals whose credible fear interviews have been denied and/or prepare requests for release, providing aid at a critical juncture for individuals who would otherwise remain languishing in detention without counsel. SPLC will provide an online toolkit with sample submissions and ongoing mentorship through their partnership with AIC IJC. This is an excellent opportunity for attorneys without an immigration law background to provide meaningful assistance to detained immigrants whose rights have been violated and contribute to immigrant justice work. RSVP here for the session on March 24, 2021.