IMMIGRATION CLINIC
This is the first and only dedicated in-house Immigration Clinic in the state of Georgia.
The Georgia State Law Immigration Clinic opened in January 2020 to help address the need for lawyers with experience in immigration matters across the state. The Immigration Clinic focuses on removal defense. Students provide representation for low-income non-citizens appearing in Immigration Court, including individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
2,600+
$335,000+
145+
Client Information
Court cases for the Immigration Clinic are referred by our community partners. The Immigration Clinic generally provides removal defense for individuals in removal proceedings in the Atlanta and Stewart Immigration Courts. Case types may include asylum and related forms of relief, cancellation of removal, and bond.
Work Authorization Defense Project
Work Authorization Defense Project Introduction
Work Permits for Asylum Seekers
Limited Recourse for Arbitrary Denials
The Solution
Pursuant to a grant awarded by the American Bar Endowment, the Immigration Clinic at the Georgia State University College of Law launched the Work Authorization Defense Project in July of 2021. Over the course of the one-year grant period, which ended in June 2022, pro bono attorneys—guided by the Clinic, and with the benefit of the Clinic’s training materials—filed eight APA complaints against USCIS in district court. (Seven were successful; one remains pending.) The WADP lives on in the form of training modules and other materials that provide attorneys with the knowledge and know-how needed to sue USCIS in federal court.
To be part of the solution, click here.
The Immigration Clinic is a six credit-hour graded experiential course, where second- and third-year law students learn both in the classroom and through working on real cases for non-citizens in removal proceedings. Immigration Clinic students will:
- Work directly with real clients under the Georgia Student Practice Rule and the rules of the Executive Office for Immigration Review;
- Learn practical lawyering skills that are transferable to any legal environment, including how to interview, counsel, work with interpreters, develop case theory, draft effective affidavits, conduct fact investigation, collaborate with experts and other service providers, and work with survivors of trauma in a client-centered model;
- Learn to conduct legal research, draft memoranda, motions, and briefs, compile and prepare evidentiary submissions, present arguments and elicit testimony in Immigration Court, and raise and respond to objections to build and protect the record;
- Learn to navigate the complex system of statutes, regulations, international treaty obligations, and executive actions governing the practice of immigration law;
- Understand the network of agencies, institutions, and legal systems, including civil immigration detention, encountered by non-citizens in the United States;
- Engage in project work with community partners to assist the greater immigrant community in Georgia.
Immigration Clinic I
Immigration Clinic II
Application
Requirements
Additional Requirements
Work in the clinic may require some travel to meet with clients off campus, including in detention centers in remote locations. Efforts will be made to pair students without transportation, with students who are mobile. Clinic students must attend a mandatory day-long orientation session and sign the Immigration Clinic Intern Agreement. Students will be notified of the date of orientation upon registration.
Faculty & Staff
CONTACT
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 4037
Atlanta, GA 30302-4037
Physical Address
85 Park Place NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
