Through this lawsuit I hope to bring the Lacayos to justice for their exploitation of immigrants in San Francisco and to prevent any other immigrants from becoming victims of their fraudulent operation. I want to thank the International Institute of the Bay Area, La Raza Centro Legal, East Bay Community Law Center, Dolores Street Community Services, Immigration Legal Resource Center, the State Bar of California, and the Executive Office of Immigration Review for helping us prepare our legal case.
It was high-stakes for the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), representing a trafficking victim for the first time. It was high stakes for EBCLC student Asher Waite-Jones ’16, pursuing a visa for a detained client badly in need of help. And it was the highest of stakes for Lynden, who asked not to use her last name, an undocumented transgender woman from Belize facing possible deportation.
Mindy Phillips ’15 and Whitney Rubenstein ’14 have plenty in common. Both found a second home in the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) soon after enrolling at Berkeley Law. Both strive to support at-risk youth. And both received prestigious, two-year Equal Justice Works fellowships to do just that at EBCLC. Phillips’ initiative provides immigration legal services to Oakland public school students and their families. Rubenstein’s offers legal representation and social work support to Oakland public housing tenants who face possible eviction because of a juvenile delinquency matter. Each innovative project is improving the lives of vulnerable children.
New EBCLC Attorney to Work with Undocumented Berkeley Students
EBCLC’s Immigration Unit fights to keep Chea Bou with his family.
Oakland-area man Chea Bou currently waits at a detention center in Texas to be deported to Cambodia, a country he fled as a refugee 35 years ago. If deported, he would leave behind a U.S. citizen wife and three U.S. citizen children, two of whom are minors. The Immigration Clinic has been working for the past year to help Chea Bou remain in the U.S. You can help too! Please sign this petition and forward it to your networks.
