James H. Binger Center for New Americans: 2022-23 Annual Report by University of Minnesota Law School

James H. Binger Center for New Americans BACK AT TH OK E O F L

E JA

B IN

GER C E N TE R

Years

OF M

IC A

ST IR

A SPE CI AL

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Reflections from Leadership

A Message from Interim Dean William McGeveran Contents 3

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans

Reflections from Executive Director Sarah Brenes

Education and Outreach

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

10 Detainee Rights Clinic 12 Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic 14 Rural Immigrant Access Clinic 18 Transition Spotlight 20 Faculty and Staff

At Minnesota Law, we are driven to educate the next generation of lawyers to make a difference in their communities, the nation, and the world. We know that a transformative legal education can help talented and passionate students find their purpose and, in turn, empower them to advocate for the common good. Thanks to the generous and visionary support of the Robina Foundation, the James H. Binger Center for New Americans has taken a central role in accomplishing the Law School’s mission. It has helped numerous students offer much needed representation and support to immigrant communities, both while studying at Minnesota Law and for years to come in their legal practice. Our groundbreaking model brings those committed students together with expert faculty and our essential partners in law firms and nonprofit organizations. Together, they enable the Binger Center to train exceptional future lawyers while also serving the needs of refugees, noncitizens, and vulnerable families. Paging through this report and reflecting back over a decade of the Binger Center’s work, I feel both proud of all the accomplishments and incredibly excited about the future. And most of all, I feel deep gratitude to the faculty, staff, students, community partners, alumni, and donors who together are making the Center for New Americans a nationally recognized hub of innovative advocacy and education while transforming immigration law—one student and one client at a time. William McGeveran Interim Dean and Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett Professor of Law

James H. Binger Center for New Americans The James H. Binger Center for New Americans is a comprehensive immigration

program at the University of Minnesota Law School that brings together students, faculty, and community partners to advocate for immigrants at the local, regional, and national level. Founded in 2013, the Binger Center includes four immigration law clinics and an education and outreach program that provide urgently needed legal services to immigrants, pursue impact litigation that will improve our nation’s immigration laws, and educate immigrants about their rights. This unique and collaborative model allows students to directly represent immigrants in court, participate in community advocacy and policy development, and litigate appeals in federal court to break down systemic barriers facing immigrants.

Our Unique Collaborative Model

FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LITIGATION CLINIC

DETAINEE RIGHTS CLINIC

RURAL IMMIGRANT ACCESS CLINIC

clinical students

and

students working in immigration law field placements

35,600+

pro bono hours (nearly 1,000 hours/year)

educated

250

................

Dorsey & Whitney Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath Robins Kaplan

3,158+

hours of pro bono attorney services

Since 2013, the Binger Center has provided

The Advocates for Human Rights Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid EDUCATION AND OUTREACH PROGRAM

In 2023, the Binger Center provided

clinical law students in immigration law IMMIGRATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC

and supported

students working in field placements in immigration law

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

BACK AT TH OK E F LO

B IN

GER C E

F NTER

Years

TH ES

IC A

ST IR

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

A SPE CI AL

James H. Binger

In 2015, students, faculty, and partner attorneys from the James H. Binger Center for New Americans’ Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic helped win the landmark Mellouli v. Holder case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reflections from Leadership

Reflections from Executive Director Sarah Brenes When I started law school nearly 20 years ago, I knew that I wanted to be a public interest lawyer and practice immigration law. Nonprofits working in immigration law were turning the corner on their ten or 20-year anniversaries. The passage of the Refugee Act in the early 1980s sparked the creation of The Advocates for Human Rights Refugee & Immigrant Program. Drastic changes in immigration laws in the mid-1990s forced federally funded legal service providers to restrict services to undocumented immigrants. As a result, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Immigration Project spun off from Central Minnesota Legal Services and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) was founded to assist undocumented immigrants. These pillars of the community worked closely alongside a growing cadre of private immigration attorneys and made Minnesota not only a welcoming place for immigrants but also a supportive space to grow and develop as an immigration lawyer. Fast forward to August of 2022 when I stepped into the role as executive director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans. The Binger Center had a unique opportunity to feed off and into the collective energy of existing nonprofits and local law firms with a commitment to pro bono services by forming intentional partnerships and joining forces with existing and new law clinics at the University of Minnesota. In its first ten years, the Binger Center has exceeded its goals, as the pages of this annual report demonstrate. But the demand for legal services and creative solutions has not subsided. As we turn the page to a new decade, we challenge ourselves with new goals to engage our growing cadre of alumni in the work, to more deeply draw out our connections in the broader University community, and to have a collective focus among our clinics to create change. Sarah Brenes Executive Director, James H. Binger Center for New Americans

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Education Reflections&from Outreach Leadership

Bringing Community Back to Campus Last year, the James H. Binger Center for New Americans and The Advocates for Human Rights co-sponsored the Fall 2022 Asylum Conference. More than 200 attorneys, paralegals, and community members learned how to improve client collaboration and build a case record to withstand appeal. Participants built skills to address systemic and implicit bias when representing trauma survivors, including critical interviewing skills and techniques to effectively work with interpreters. Appellate lawyers discussed common errors seen in records on appeal and ways court practitioners can reserve key issues for appeal. The conference ended with a session on collective resilience. Presenters discussed how lawyers can cope with losses and how clients can thrive as human rights activists in the diaspora.

Education & Outreach

Binger Center

Conferences & Speaker Series

Community Discussion on Deportation Abolition November 17, 2022

2022 Asylum Conference November 18, 2022 In March of 2023, The Binger Center collaborated with other Twin Cities law school clinics to pilot an immigration court consultation project. Collaborators on the project, included (front L to R): Community Outreach Program and Research Coordinator Mahmoud Ahmed and Patrick Walsh ’24; and (back L to R): University of St. Thomas School of Law LLM students; Professor Virgil Wiebe (University of St. Thomas School of Law); Adjunct Professor Angela Bortel; Anna Schendl ’24; and Executive Director Sarah Brenes.

In spring 2022, the Binger Center partnered with The Advocates for Human Rights to train lawyers on defending immigrants with controlled substance convictions and with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid to discuss working with clients with diminished capacity. The Center also partnered with the Human Rights Center, the Human Rights Program, and the Immigration History Research Center to host a series of conversations on climate change and forced migration. The Education & Outreach Program has initiated programs that were later established as ongoing Binger Center projects, such as the Translation and Interpretation Program and the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic. Incubated projects have also launched into ongoing programs housed by institutional partners, such as the Immigration Court Observation Project, now primarily overseen by The Advocates for Human Rights.

Challenging “Controlled Substance” Offenses Under the INA in the 8th Circuit February 17, 2023

Spring Speaker Series on Climate Change and Forced Migration February 22, March 14 & 30, 2023

Working with Clients with Diminished Capacity April 12, 2023

4,000+

people reached through Education & Outreach events and initiatives Since 2013

Community Outreach Program and Research Coordinator Mahmoud Ahmed and Professor Linus Chan with

Advocate for Human Rights’ Veronica Cadavid Gonzalez, and Jennifer Prestholdt ’96 during panel presentation g The “Collective Resilience: Collaboration and Advocacy as Healing” during the Fall 2022 Asylum Conference.

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic “I wish [former President Donald Trump] could see how we’re suffering in our countries and that we don’t have laws to protect us.” — CLIENT RACHELL TO THE MEDIA IN 2017

Immigration & Human Rights Clinic Helps Trans Honduran Client Win Asylum In July 2022, Judge Katherine Hansen granted asylum to Rachell, a 27-year-old trans woman from Honduras who had been fighting her case since she arrived in the United States in 2018. Rachell faced physical, sexual, and emotional persecution in Honduras from family members, the MS-13 gang, and police due to her gender identity and her refusal to conform to a heterosexual normative lifestyle. Four years earlier, she sought asylum protection at the U.S. border and spoke to U.S. media about her claim. “I understand [President Donald Trump] because he’s trying to protect his country,” Rachell, 24, said of the president’s discouragement of new arrivals at the Mexican border. “But … I wish he could see the things that we’re suffering in our countries and that we don’t have laws to protect us.” READ MORE ABOUT RACHELL’S CASE. 8

The Immigration and Human Rights Clinic with their client. From L to R: Srishtee Dear ’23; Hannah McDonald ’23; Professor Steve Meili; Rachell (the clinic’s client); Eura Chang ’22, and Alena Carl ’22.

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic The Immigration and Human Rights Clinic’s history includes many victories, and many more stories. The clinic has obtained asylum or other forms of protection for clients fleeing persecution from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Guinea, Honduras, Iran, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Zimbabwe. Asylum cases challenge students to communicate effectively despite differences in language and life experience. Students must navigate a federal bureaucracy and jurisprudence built to exclude and expel so-called “aliens” from the United States. And they must elicit their clients’ testimony, often about unimaginable experiences of torture, rape, and other human rights violations. Cases can last for a very long time. Even when a case isn’t resolved, the clients are always grateful that someone was standing beside them, listening, and patiently explaining the process. Fostering this kind of advocacy is why the clinic is such a valuable part of the law school experience for students and faculty.

In 2022-23, the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic had

student attorneys

student directors

1,121 case hours

Since 2013, the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic has provided

10,946+ pro bono hours since the Binger Center’s inception

Professor Steve Meili, James H. Michael Chair in International Human Rights Law, gave a talk last spring about his recent book, The Constitutionalization of Human Rights Law: Implications for Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Led by Professor Steve Meili and Clinical Fellow Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18, students in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic navigate a constantly shifting political climate to represent asylum seekers from across the globe.

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Detainee Rights Clinic “My biggest takeaway from this case is the importance of the attorney-client relationship.” — HALEY WALLACE ’23

Students in the Detainee Rights Clinic Win Asylum Case with One of the Clinic’s First Clients In the spring of 2023, students in the Detainee Rights Clinic (DRC) scored a major victory with a client formerly from El Salvador who had been seeking asylum for nearly a decade. The client hired the clinic for legal representation in 2014 — one of the DRC’s first clients. After securing release from detention to stay deportation, students and faculty worked with the client to win an appeal at the Board of Immigration that opened a pathway for asylum. Students Haley Wallace ’23, Nicole Carter ’24, and Anna Schlendl ’24 spent two years building trust and preparing the client for the final immigration hearing. “These students worked hard to develop a relationship with the client, which became absolutely crucial to the success of the case,” says Professor Linus Chan, Director of the Detainee Rights Clinic at the Law School’s Center for New Americans. “They took the time to truly understand the trauma and persecution the client had endured and were confident in making the argument in front of the Immigration Court.” Detainee Rights Clinic students Nicole Carter ’24, Haley Wallace ’23, and Anna Schlendl ’24

In March 2023, the Immigration Court granted asylum. And importantly, says Chan, the government recognized the level of trauma and declined to appeal the ruling. “My biggest takeaway from this case is the importance of the attorney-client relationship,” says Wallace. “I spent a lot of time building a safe, honest, and trusting relationship with the client. I think the relationship we built was what ultimately led to winning asylum.”

READ THE FULL STORY ABOUT THE DETAINEE RIGHTS CLINIC CASE.

Detainee Rights Clinic

In 2022-23, the Detainee Rights Clinic had

students

student directors

Professor Linus Chan was promoted to clinical professor of law and named the James H. Binger Clinical Professor of Law this year.

and provided

669+

pro bono hours of service

Professor Linus Chan joined the Binger Center for New Americans in 2014 as the inaugural director of the Detainee Rights Clinic. His clinic focuses on representing immigrants isolated in immigration detention, but his work is far from individualized. Building and supporting communities are essential to the legal practice model of the Detainee Rights Clinic. Professor Chan has been involved in several initiatives, including fundraising and organizing with the Minnesota Freedom Fund; advocating with and representing several members of the Minnesota 8; incubating the Court Observation Project, now housed with the The Advocates for Human Rights; and pushing for broader legislative change in the areas of post-conviction relief and solitary confinement. Every step of the way, Chan engages in this work in coalition, mobilizing with individuals, departments, and organizations both internal to the University of Minnesota and representative of the broader Twin Cities and Minnesotan communities.

Since its inception, the Detainee Rights Clinic has provided

8,332+ pro bono hours of service

Led by Professor Linus Chan, the Detainee Rights Clinic provides students multifaceted opportunities to represent non-citizens facing removal from the United States who are detained at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) facilities in the Twin Cities area.

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic “This was a difference maker for those who have been languishing for years in county jails with no opportunity to contest their civil immigration custody.” — NADIA ANGUIANO ’17

Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic Wins Decisive Habeas Victory READ THE STORY ABOUT THIS HISTORIC WIN.

Front: Mary Georgevich ’18, Maria Saracino-Lowe ’23, Prof. Nadia Anguiano, John Weber ’22, and Ellie Soskin ’22. Back: Prof. Linus Chan and Ben Gleekel ’23

This year, the Binger Center for New Americans has achieved key objectives to protect the rights of noncitizens subject to immigration custody. The Binger Center’s work—spearheaded by the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic (FILC), the Detainee Rights Clinic (DRC), and some of the Center’s nonprofit and law firm partners—has focused on noncitizens with criminal histories who are spending years in mandatory civil immigration detention in Minnesota with little opportunity to meaningfully challenge their custody.

Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic Most recently, the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic prevailed in Zackaria M. v. Garland before the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Clinic faculty and students joined forces with the law firm of Robins Kaplan, the National Immigrant Justice Center, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, The Advocates for Human Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union on the habeas corpus case related to noncitizens in prolonged detention. “We finally won all of the due process protections we had been seeking,” said Nadia Anguiano ’17, associate professor of clinical law and director of FILC. “We got to this point incrementally. Our position from the start was that not only did the Constitution require a custody hearing and that the government must bear the burden of proof, but also that the adjudicator must consider the ability to post bond and alternatives to detention,” Anguiano said. “This was a difference maker for those who have been languishing for years in county jails with no opportunity to contest their civil immigration custody.”

In 2022-23, the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic had

student attorneys

student directors

1,148+ pro bono hours

Since its inception,the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic has had

U.S. Supreme Court matters

Professor Nadia Anguiano ’17 was recently recognized for her work on the national Amicus Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and was awarded with the 2023 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award. Established in 1980, the award is given in recognition of “excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law.”

U.S. Circuit Court matters

U.S. District Court matters The Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic is led by Professor Nadia Anguiano ’17 and Legal Fellow Seiko Shastri ’21. The clinic gives students the opportunity to effectively represent clients in federal impact immigration litigation and improve and transform U.S. immigration law through collaborative impact litigation in the federal courts.

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Students worked with Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County to provide a “Know Your Rights” presentation to immigrant youth and provide legal consultations to asylum seekers in Red Wing, Minnesota. L to R: Mahmoud Ahmed; Austin Renollet ’23; Patrick Walsh, ’24; Carli Cortina ’23; and Sarah Brenes.

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic

The Rural Immigrant Access Clinic Provided Brief Legal Services to Asylum Seekers During the 2023 spring semester, the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic partnered with The Advocates for Human Rights to address the growing need for brief legal services for asylum seekers arriving in the Upper Midwest. Faculty and students made multiple trips to central Minnesota to work with asylum seekers receiving community support from Fe y Justicia, based outside of St. Cloud in Waite Park, Minnesota. They spent a day in Red Wing, Minnesota providing a Know Your Rights presentation and advice consultations in collaboration with Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County.

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic Student Austin Renollet ’23 mailed an asylum application for a client.

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic In 2019, the Binger Center launched the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic. The clinic was designed to provide legal assistance to the growing number of immigrants living in rural areas and has provided opportunities for students to develop client advice and brief services skills. An outgrowth of an initiative in which Law School faculty and students, along with volunteer attorneys, periodically provided legal assistance to immigrants in pop-up legal clinics in greater Minnesota and the Dakotas, the formation of the clinic formalized the program and converted it from a one-off experience for students to a semesterlong learning opportunity. It became the 25th clinic at the Law School, and the fourth immigrationfocused clinic run through the James H. Binger Center for New Americans.

In 2022-23, The Rural Immigrant Access Clinic provided:

consultations with rural immigrants

103

community members reached

775

miles traveled

230

pro bono hours delivered to clients

Since its inception, the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic has provided:

354.5

pro bono hours The Rural Immigrant Access Clinic traveled with The Advocates for Human Rights to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in March 2023. The team worked with Sioux Falls-based Naomi Project and Caminando Juntos to provide brief legal services to asylum seekers living in Sioux Falls.

Led by executive director, Sarah Brenes, the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic hosts pop-up legal clinics in rural communities to provide brief legal services to noncitizens who have limited access to immigration attorneys and are experiencing issues related to immigration, including apprehension and detention.

525

consultations with rural immigrants

cases represented 2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans At A Glance

2013 Founding - The University of Minnesota Law School establishes the Center for New Americans—the first of its kind in the nation—in 2013 with a gift from the Robina Foundation. The Center’s founding incorporates the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic and adds the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic and the Detainee Rights Clinic to the Law School’s clinical offerings in immigration law.

2015 - On June 1, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Mellouli v. Holder, handing a victory to Moones Mellouli, a pro bono client represented jointly by the University of Minnesota Law School’s Center for New Americans, Faegre Baker Daniels, and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

April 2016 - Binger Center student Anne Dutton ’16 argues Wilfredo Garay-Reyes v. Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney General in front of 9th circuit, also briefed by Zack Albun ’16. Dutton went on to work at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. Albun joined The Advocates for Human Rights.

2013

2015

2016

February 2017 - Prof. Linus Chan leads a group of students on a week-long winter service learning trip to Florence, Arizona, to support detained immigrants at the U.S. border. The trip included Professor Chinmoy Gulrajani and forensic psychiatry students from the University of Minnesota.

February 2017 - Binger Center and partners work with Minnesota Attorney General’s office to file injunction against Muslim travel ban.

December 2016 - Binger Center students organize travel to Dilley, Texas, to work with CARA and win emergency stays of removal for women and children who were swept up in deportation raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Sets foundation for future Binger Center student legal service trips.

2017

2016

February 2017 Center Endowment - In February 2017, the Binger Center announces a $25 million gift from the Robina Foundation, providing sustained funding for collaborative partnership between BCNA and institutional partners. The Center is renamed the James H. Binger Center for New Americans.

February 2017 - The Binger Center’s Detainee Rights Clinic helps restore green card for client Ched Nin. Family members help found Release MN8 to support Ched and other Cambodians in detention. The Clinic also worked with the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development on a project to examine transnational family separation.

March 2017 - More than 100 people attend the Binger Center’s “Refugees at Our Border” featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Soia Nazario, and a50 local educators attend an additional teaching session titled “Refugees in our Classrooms.”

2017

Comprehensive BCNA Timeline October 2017 - The Human Rights Defender Project launches in partnership with The Advocates for Human Rights and Robins Kaplan. The Project trains volunteer court observers to monitor immigration court hearings. It has evolved to include hundreds of volunteers and produced six reports that have influenced reforms in immigration court.

November 2017 - The Binger Center launches its inaugural Annual Immigration Law Forum, “On All Fronts: Defending the Borders of the U.S. Constitution,” featuring Omar Jadwat, Director, ACLU Immigrant Rights Project; Deepa Iyer, Senior Fellow, Center for Social Inclusion; and Maggie Loredo, Co-director, Otros Dreams en Acción.

2017

December 2017 - The Binger Center works with partner The Advocates for Human Rights, The University of Miami, and others to file a class action lawsuit blocking deportation of 92 Somalis.

2017

November 2019 - The Binger Center’s Annual Immigration Law Forum, “Immigrants’ Rights Under Siege and the Road Ahead,” covers topics including the historical context for the present immigration crisis, actions taken by state and local governments to protect immigrants, using habeas petitions to get clients out of detention, the effects of the Remain in Mexico policy, and the attack on asylum, particularly for vulnerable women.

2019

2017

April 2018 - Law students and a Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Policy graduate student embark on a six-day legal services trip to Le Sueur, Minnesota and Brookings, South Dakota, to provide legal consultations to over 100 individuals and families.

2018

January 2019 - Binger Center launches fourth clinic, the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic, making it the 25th clinic at the Law School.

December 2018 - Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic students successfully argue Jasso Arangure v. Whitaker in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. In April 2022, the Clinic won for a second time in the 6th Circuit with Jasso Arangure v. Garland.

2019

2018

November 2020 - The Binger Center’s Annual Immigration Law Forum, “Critical Conversations: Racial Justice and the Immigrant Rights Movement,” engages lawyers and advocates in critical conversations about race. Sessions address historical lineages and systemic racism in the immigration system, identity questions that surround how the immigrant rights movement is defined, and how community partners can come together to support noncitizens.

March 2022 - The Binger Center collaborates with Catholic Charities on trip to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, assisting nearly 100 Afghan guests whom the U.S. had recently evacuated from Afghanistan.

June 2022 - The Binger Center hosts “La Triste Frontera,” a medical-legal symposium addressing border-related dangers and traumas created by US immigration laws and policies, the lasting impact on migrants to the US, and collaborative health, legal and policy strategies to build community support for migrants and assist with the healing process.

2020

2022

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

Alumni Spotlight: Rebecca Cassler ’16

B IN

GER C E N T E R

25%

“There is a community of Binger Center alumni whose experiences as students in the Center were very formative in a similar way to mine. I can go to those people and know that I’ll get good advice. They are my professional allies who are doing really great work in the field of immigration.” — REBECCA CASSLER ’16, ATTORNEY SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

of Binger Center alumni work or volunteer in immigration law

50+

alumni work as attorneys in immigration law with

80%

of those alumni providing legal services to clients in Minnesota

alumni are employed at the Binger Center’s nonprofit or law firm partners

READ MORE FROM BINGER CENTER ALUMNI WHO HAVE SHARED THEIR EXPERIENCES.

There have been

249

Binger Center alumni since 2013

Years

IC A

NS E

TH M

Alumni from the James H. Binger Center for New Americans maintain strong connections with the Center while making significant contributions to the immigration field. Through a strong network established during their time as students, these graduates continue to engage with the Law School by continuing work on cases after graduating, returning as adjunct professors and guest lecturers, and offering guidance to current students who are passionate about immigration law.

BACK AT TH OK E F LO

ST IR

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

A SPE CI AL

James H. Binger

Immigration Legal Fellows

Binger Center Fellows 2013-23

Nadia Anguiano ’17

Julia Decker ’14

Kate Evans Clinical Professor of Law Director, Immigrant Rights Clinic, Duke University

Megan Heesch

Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18

Regina Jeffries Assistant Professor in the Law, Diversity and Justice Program Fairhaven, Western Washington University

Kathy Moccio

Stacy Taeuber Immigration Project Resource Attorney Washington Defender Association

Associate Clinical Professor of Law Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Clinical Fellow Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Policy Director, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

Adjunct Professor, Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Immigration Judge, Otay Mesa Immigration Court

Since 2013, the Binger Center has worked with legal fellows— a select group of talented legal professionals—who have led initiatives, taught clinical courses, and provided crucial legal services to individuals and families navigating the complex immigration system. Many continue to work in immigration law, striving to make a positive impact on the lives of newcomers to the United States.

Seiko Shastri ’21

Litigation Fellow Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Faculty and Staff

Nadia Anguiano ’17

Sarah Brenes

Linus Chan

Stephen Meili

Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18

Seiko Shastri ’21

Mahmoud Ahmed

Teresa Padrón

Associate Clinical Professor of Law Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Clinical Fellow Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Executive Director Director of Education & Outreach Lecturer in Law Rural Immigrant Access Clinic

Litigation Fellow Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Clinical Professor of Law James H. Binger Clinical Professor of Law Detainee Rights Clinic

Community Outreach Program and Research Coordinator

Assistant Dean of Clinical Education James H. Michael Chair in International Human Rights Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Executive Office and Administrative Specialist

Publications Sarah Brenes:

Stephen Meili:

Books Immigration Law and Procedure in a Nutshell (West Academic, 8th ed., 2023) (with David Weissbrodt, Laura Danielson, Howard S. Myers III, and Sarah K. Peterson)

Books The Constitutionalization of Human Rights Law: Implications for Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2022)

Journal Articles Mental Health Professionals and Affirmative Applications for Immigration Benefits: A Critical Review of Administrative Appeals Office Cases Involving Extreme Hardship and Mental Harm, 11-04 Immigration Briefings 1 (Apr. 2011). (with Virgil Wiebe) Book Chapters Protection-Based Relief: Forging a Path to Permanent Status, in Immigration Practice Deskbook (Hon. Nelson L. Peralta & Paschal O. Nwokocha, eds. Minnesota CLE, 2018 revision; 2020 revision) (with Allison Griffith and Lindsey Greising) Other Publications The Bind with Immigration Bonds, 81:5 Hennepin Lawyer 22 (May 2012) HeinOnline: MN Law HeinOnline Lawyer as Counselor: Know the Signs and When to Look for Help While Working with Clients with Mental Health Needs, VII:3 Hearsay [Minnesota State Bar Association] (Spr/Summ 2011)

Linus Chan: Books Immigration Simulations: Bridge to Practice (West Academic, 2018) (with Regina Jefferies) Journal Articles Crimmigrating Narratives: Examining Third-Party Observations of US Detained Immigration Court, 48 Law & Social Inquiry 407 (2023) (with Christopher Levesque, Jack DeWaard, Michele Garnett McKenzie, Kazumi Tsuchiya, Olivia Toles, Amy Lange, Kim Horner, Eric Ryu and Elizabeth Heger Boyle)

Journal Articles Constitutionalized Human Rights Law in South Africa: Does It Help Refugees and Asylum-Seekers?, 53 George Washington International Law Review 177 (2021) Asylum Under Attack: Is It Time for A Constitutional Right?, 26 Buffalo Human Rights Law Review 147 (2020) HeinOnline: MN Law HeinOnline Open Access Westlaw SSRN Constitutionalized Human Rights Law in Mexico: Hope for Central American Refugees?, 32 Harvard Human Rights Journal 103 (2019) Book Chapters National Constitutions and the Right to Asylum, in The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (Cathryn Costello, Michelle Foster & Jane McAdam, ed., Oxford University Press, 2021) The Effectiveness of an Emerging Pathway of Rights: The Constitutionalization of Human Rights Law, in Contesting Human Rights: Norms, Institutions and Practice (Alison Brysk & Michael Stohl, eds., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) Other Publications Perjudicar las posibilidades de los solicitantes de asilo por el mal uso de los tratados de derechos humanos, 43 Revista Migraciones Forzadas 74 (July 2013) Harming Asylum Seekers’ Chances through Poor Use of Human Rights Treaties, 43 Forced Migration Review 74 (May 2013)

Process as Suffering: How U.S. Immigration Court Process and Culture Prevent Substantive Justice, 86 Albany Law Review (2023) (with Christopher Levesque and Kimberly Horner ) Other Publications BIA: City Drug Ordinance Violation Is a State Law Conviction; Counts for Recidivist Offender Purposes, crImmigration, July 31, 2012 (guest blogger) 2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

B IN

GER C E N T E R

Years

TH ES

IC A

ST IR

A SPE CI AL

BACK AT TH OK E F LO

Current James H. Binger Center Faculty and Staff From L to R: Professor Nadia Anguiano ’17; Executive Director Sarah Brenes; Community Outreach Program and Research Coordinator Mahmoud Ahmed; Clinical Fellow Mackenzie Hendricks ’18; Executive Office and Administrative Specialist Teresa Padrón; Professor Linus Chan; Assistant Dean of Clinical Education Stephen Meili; and Legal Fellow Seiko Shastri ’21.

VISIT THE JAMES H. BINGER CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

LAW.UMN.EDU/JAMES-H-BINGER-CENTER-NEW-AMERICANS

2022–23 ANNUAL REPORT

The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. ©2023 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.