Law students are offering consultations to young people affected by the discontinuation of the DACA immigration policy, while learning practical skills that will be useful in their own future careers, through a new Immigration and Detention and DACA Clinic at UConn Law.<\/p>\n
The policy (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) allowed some individuals who entered the country illegally as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and be eligible for a work permit. Now, that policy is being phased out, leaving the lives of many young people uncertain.<\/p>\n
\nPeople sometimes don\u2019t know their basic rights, such as the right to legal representation at a hearing.\u00a0 — Taylor Faranda Korthuis<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The students provide those facing the loss of their DACA status with the best advice and options possible within the law. They are also helping immigrants held in detention to seek release and the opportunity to remain in the United States while they litigate their removal cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a real need for legal services of this type. The issues at stake are very serious,\u201d said Jon Bauer, a law professor who directs the program along with Anna Cabot, a teaching fellow at the School of Law. \u201cPeople face being deported back to countries where they don\u2019t know anyone, or where they may face serious persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program is part of the UConn School of Law Legal Clinic, and is a spinoff of the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic, which was founded in 2002.<\/p>\n
The UConn students are providing a valuable resource to a population in need while also receiving real-life experience that will benefit their future careers.<\/p>\n
“We’re getting a lot of transferable skills, even if you’re not going into immigration,” said third-year student Stephanie O\u2019Loughlin \u201914 (CLAS), of Wolcott, Connecticut. “We’re really learning how to interview and counsel with our clients and learning how to tell them sometimes things that are difficult, which is the nature of any public interest law.”<\/p>\n