TOPICS: MIGRANT JUSTICE WORKSHOP in Spring 2020 (LW2091B)

Students are welcome to apply to take the course “Migrant Justice Workshop.” The course immerses students in asylum law and introduces them to present-day asylum seekers from Central America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. At the same time, the course situates these timely cases within historical and sociological frameworks. Through skills-based workshops, discussions, and mock trials, students will integrate multiple perspectives and disciplines. The culminating project is an intensive week of volunteering at a detention center in south Texas. Students should be ready to work challenging 12-hour shifts. As volunteers, they work one-on-one with detained migrants, helping them prepare interviews with asylum officers and draft legal declarations that are submitted to courts. Students also have the invaluable opportunity to work directly with lawyers and paralegals from the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), one of the leading immigrants’ rights organizations in the United States.

This course is jointly taught by Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu.

Note: This course is application-based. Students who are interested should email Michelle Kuo at mkuo@aup.edu for an application. Priority is given to students who are fluent in Spanish and/or students who know asylum law. Applications are due November 18th at 11:59 PM. Professors Wu and Kuo are supervising one set of students the first week of June, and another set the second week. (Students choose which week of June works better; we ask that you not apply if you aren't sure about your availability in June, as you will take the spot of another student.)