Ohio State University (OSU) will start an immigration law clinic to help law students gain professional experience while providing immigrants with much-needed legal services.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that starting this fall semester, the clinic will select eight students from the OSU Moritz College of Law to represent immigrants in court proceedings, including those in which they risk being deported.
“It’s really special as a student to have that opportunity to learn to provide a real service to people and helping people while also having a space where someone is an expert and they can ask questions. We’re often helping people stay with their families and helping people stay safe,” Laura Barrera, a visiting law professor at OSU, told the outlet.
While students attend classes, handling real cases will give them vital experience in immigration law while also benefiting the Ohio community by providing pro-bono legal services.
As the clinic can only take on a certain number of cases, Barrera intends to focus their work on deportation defense cases. But the students can help in other ways, including know-your-rights workshops and assisting other organizations with their cases.
Community in Need
Normally, immigrants that need to appear in court are not provided an attorney by the federal government. They either have to find an attorney that can take their case for free or collect enough money to pay for one.
Amy Bittner, a local immigration attorney from Columbus, shared that the city doesn’t have many non-profit organizations providing free or low cost legal services despite the presence of many immigrants. Bittner hopes that the new clinic will create an impact and encourage students to help underserved communities.
Steven Huefner, an OSU law professor and director of clinical programs at the Moritz College of Law, explained that the initiative was put forth in response to student interest.
“It’s long been obvious to the leadership at the college of law here that there was both significant student interest in immigration law … (and) that there were plenty of opportunities to provide immigration law services in the community,” Huefner said.
Finding the money to cover staff salaries and other overhead costs was the main challenge to getting the clinic started. However, an anonymous local community organization has donated to the program, offering a partnership for one year.
“The field of immigration law has been in quite a bit of flux over the last half decade, and many immigrants have found themselves really destabilized by that degree of flux, uncertain about their futures, and a clinic like ours is really only beginning to scratch the surface of that unmet need in helping immigrants to stabilize their status, make more permanent plans regarding them and their families, and make things right with the law and existing structures,” Huefner said.