Center News

An interdisciplinary immigration-data-collection project proposed by Professor Linus Chan and Jack DeWaard, professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts, has received a faculty research award.

The title of the newly funded project is “Promoting Transparency and Engagement in U.S. Immigration Court by Ensuring the Quality and Utility of Data Collected by Volunteer Observers.” The University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Initiative approved $47,087 in funding for the 2019 calendar year.

When Professor Stephen Meili looked out on his immigration law class at the start of the fall semester, there was a familiar face mixed in among the group of eager students seated before him. Amna Arabi, a Metropolitan State University student taking his class through an individualized studies program that allows her to earn credits at other institutions, first met Meili five years ago when he and law students at the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic represented her in an asylum case.

As many students across the country flew off to warm tropical beaches and other fun-filled destinations to celebrate their spring break, a small cadre of dedicated Law School students and a Humphrey School graduate student embarked on a six-day road trip to such exotic locales as Le Sueur, Minnesota, and Brookings, South Dakota.

These five intrepid students generously gave up their vacation time to help service the legal needs of immigrants in the rural Midwest. The Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans organized the trip and provided the training.

Professor Linus Chan, who teaches the Detainee Rights Clinic in the Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans, has been selected by Minnesota Lawyer magazine as one of its 2017 Attorneys of the Year. Chan was honored in the “Partners” category, along with Twin Cities attorney Mai Neng Moua. The two were nominated by the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association (MNAPABA) for their work on the “Minnesota Eight” case.

Students in the Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans and recent Law School graduates played key roles in a class action litigation effort that won a court order on Tuesday, December 19, temporarily blocking the deportation of 92 Somali men and women. The lawsuit was filed by the Binger Center, University of Miami Law School, and other legal services organizations in U.S. District Court in Miami.

Minneapolis-based The Advocates for Human Rights has honored Regina Jefferies, who has served for the past year as a clinical teaching fellow at the Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans, with a 2017 Special Recognition Award. The award recognizes her work as a leader of the rapid-response team that mobilized attorneys at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to protect people affected by President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has named Professor Benjamin Casper Sanchez (’97) the winner of its 2017 Elmer Fried Excellence in Teaching Award. Casper Sanchez is the director of the Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans and the professor of the Center’s Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic. The Elmer Fried Award, established in 1997, is one of the most prestigious in the field of immigration law. The AILA will present the award to Casper Sanchez on June 24 at its annual conference in New Orleans.

Clinical Professor Linus Chan has been awarded the 2017 University Outstanding Community Service Award for his work at the Binger Center for New Americans. It is the highest honor the University of Minnesota gives for service to the University and community.

“Professor Chan has made a tremendous impact on the lives of countless immigrants and refugees, and their families, through his work at the center,” says Ben Casper Sanchez (’97), clinical professor and director of the Binger Center.

The National Jurist has named Nadia Anguiano (’17) as one of its “Law Students of the Year.” The magazine asked more than 200 law schools for “stories of their most devoted students with unparalleled attitudes” and selected 25 individuals from among the nominees, based on such factors as leadership, focus, and commitment to justice. Anguiano is the top honoree (of five) in the Midwest region. Last year, then-Law School student Rajin Olson (’16) was similarly recognized.

Over the past week, students and faculty from the Law School’s Center for New Americans joined forces with lawyers from the Center’s law firm and nonprofit partners to mobilize a rapid response to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations. CNA’s work unfolded on many fronts, in Minnesota and across the country, and contributed to the Minnesota attorney general’s joint lawsuit with the state of Washington that, late Friday, secured a federal court injunction temporarily blocking the executive order nationwide.