Immigration Uncertainty
Friday, April 27, 2018BerkeleyLaw – By Andrew Cohen
Immigration policy is an area of growing turmoil, anxiety, frustration—and work. From assisting clients to advocating for reform, Berkeley Law is deeply involved.
With the recent uncertainty surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and undocumented people generally, “we’re seeing fear and confusion within the entire immigrant community,” says Linda Tam ’00, who directs the East Bay Community Law Center’s Immigration Clinic. “This work has become more important than ever.”
Tam’s group provides free legal services to low-income immigrants on such issues as DACA, political asylum, victims of crimes and trafficking, deportation defense, visas, immigration consequences of criminal convictions, public benefits eligibility, and naturalization. Attorneys also represent clients before the Asylum Office, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, and Immigration Court, and before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Soon after DACA’s 2012 launch, Berkeley Law helped create a campus legal services program that provides guidance for undocumented students. Student-led projects, including the East Bay Dreamer Clinic and the Berkeley Immigration Group (BIG), have also helped.
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