ASU Law Clinic

Immigration Clinic

Experiential learning for practical skills in immigration law

The Immigration Clinic aims to provide students with opportunities for legal practice that help them develop the ability to apply the law and make ethical professional judgments in serving their clients. By gaining hands-on experience advising immigrant and community advocate clients, students build practical skills such as interviewing, issue spotting, analysis, research and legal counseling. Thus, developing the practical knowledge required to become effective and competent litigators, whether they advocate before governmental administrative agencies or bench trials.

Students participating in the Immigration Clinic are supported by their clinical professor, who is committed to coaching and mentoring them through the process of professional development. No prior immigration practice experience or coursework is necessary to join the clinic, as the skills taught are valuable whether working in immigration law or another practice field. Understandably, having a general interest in immigration or in representing immigrants and other marginalized communities may make your participation in the clinic more personally or intellectually meaningful, but such an interest is not required for participation.

The Immigration Clinic's skill training and activities are designed to prepare students to integrate legal knowledge with fact-gathering and research techniques, enabling them to become capable, independent attorneys who can identify and implement effective legal solutions that address clients' legal needs and personal goals.

Students who participate in the Immigration Clinic will:

Become skilled in interviewing clients from various backgrounds in a legally relevant and client-centered fashion.
Be able to interview clients either in a second language or with the help of an interpreter and effectively develop rapport and understanding of the client’s legal challenge.
Be able to identify and manage ethical concerns and act accordingly.
Understand how government agencies and judicial norms and practices operate and intersect with jurisdictional and evidentiary requirements.
Understand how statutes, procedures, regulations and agencies operate.
Become familiar with the requirements for asylum, cancellation, family petitions, naturalization, DACA, Detention, VAWA, Refugee protections and other immigration benefits.
Develop the ability to identify and handle procedural due process issues that stem from jurisdictional conditions (e.g., whether a non-citizen is charged with Inadmissibility, as an arriving alien or in removal proceedings).
Develop a case plan to effectively meet the legal, administrative and evidentiary requirements necessary to satisfy regulatory standards, procedural steps and the burden of proof for the available immigration relief options.
Be able to advise clients about their legal options so they are empowered with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions and take action on their preferred litigation approach.

Students enrolling for the first time earn four (4) graded credits. Students typically dedicate 12 to 15 hours per week to clinical activities. These hours are split between independent casework, class /primer session preparation and attending the following activities:

Litigation Practical Skills/case discussion session: 2 hours weekly per Class Schedule.
Case supervision meetings: one-on-one weekly check-in with supervisor (30-60 min TBA).
Court observations: once a week during the first half of the semester (2hrs weekly TBA)
Immigration Law Legal Primers: Immigration law practice training is held during the first month of the semester to give students the legal knowledge and skills needed to develop, implement, and evaluate their clients’ cases, as well as conduct factual and legal investigations to meet their clients' legal needs. These sessions are usually scheduled for Friday afternoons.

Important: For the convenience of scheduling, students participating in the clinic for the first time should plan to be available during business hours on Wednesday and Friday afternoons for legal training, court observation and client meetings.

Students may be invited to return for a second semester. Returning students enroll in the Advanced Immigration Clinic and earn two additional pass/fail credits. The types of cases assigned to returning students vary from semester to semester but generally involve preparing court filings that address complex legal issues before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) or federal courts. Litigation tasks may include working on a complex USCIS filing, an immigration bond request or an appellate brief. These cases are chosen based on their educational and societal value through the clinic’s community partnerships, student interests or referrals from the pro bono programs.

Returning students have flexibility in scheduling their clinic hours, but they must get approval from the clinic director for their planned schedule.

Clinic application deadlines

Students may apply online during the application period listed below.

**IMPORTANT!** - Externships and Clinics – Students who have applied for an externship or clinic and been accepted may decline upon offer without consequence. However, once a student has accepted an externship or clinic, any student who drops the externship or clinic without prior approval by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs will be subject to the 12-month ban.

Clinic leadership

Evelyn Cruz

Director, Immigration Clinic
Clinical Professor of Law

Karina Ordonez

Faculty Associate

Claudia Diaz Castro

Program Coordinator

Hear from our students

Rafael Reyes

Immigration Clinic student

“The Immigration Clinic provided me with an invaluable experience that I would not have been able to receive otherwise. It provided me an opportunity for hands-on experience drafting forms and documents, meeting and speaking with clients, and handling a case on my own. The Clinic provides a controlled environment for learning and practice with the help of an attorney. It is a great opportunity to learn how to be an attorney, without being one yet. I would greatly recommend participating in the Immigration clinic or any other available clinic."

On This Page:

Experiential learning for practical skills in immigration law

Objectives

Learning outcomes

Time commitments

Returning students