WWaasshhiinnggttoonn UUnniivveerrssiittyy JJoouurrnnaall ooff LLaaww && PPoolliiccyy Volume 28 New Directions in Clinical Legal Education January 2008 LLeeggaall SSeerrvviicceess SSuuppppoorrtt CCeenntteerrss aanndd RReebbeelllliioouuss AAddvvooccaaccyy:: AA CCaassee SSttuuddyy ooff tthhee IImmmmiiggrraanntt LLeeggaall RReessoouurrccee CCeenntteerr Bill Ong Hing University of California, Davis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy Part of the Legal Education Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Bill Ong Hing, Legal Services Support Centers and Rebellious Advocacy: A Case Study of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 28 WASH. U. J. L. & POL’Y 265 (2008), https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol28/iss1/10 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Journal of Law & Policy by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Legal Services Support Centers and Rebellious Advocacy: A Case Study of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center Bill Ong Hing∗ INTRODUCTION By the early 1990s, parents who obtained legal status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”)1 organized press conferences, letter-writing, and petition drives targeting policy- makers who could address IRCA’s failure to provide legal status for their undocumented children who entered the country after 1988. Through intense community education, media work, and lobbying efforts, immigration officials promulgated a family fairness regulation that was eventually codified by Congress, thereby preventing the family separation that IRCA had failed to address. The immigrant parents group that led these efforts, El Comite de Padres Unidos, was formed with the assistance of a staff attorney from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (“ILRC”), who then developed an organizing and leadership training program for the parents. Padres Unidos has gone on to engage in a series of other campaigns. For example, members gathered more than 35,000 signatures to convince Congress to extend another immigration provision that would enable ∗ Professor of Law, University of California, Davis; Immigrant Legal Resource Center (“ILRC”) founder and general counsel. Many thanks to the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law roundtable participants who provided wonderful support and suggestions on this Article: Karen Tokarz, Peter Joy, Antoinette Sedillo López, Frank Bloch, Spencer Rand, Susan Brooks, Catherine Klein, Margaret Barry, Angela McCaffrey, Brenda Blom, Nancy Cook, Ann Juergens, Nina Tarr, Marty Geer, and Emily Hughes. Susan Bowyer helped to gather and organize the materials for the Article. Mark Silverman, Eric Cohen, Sally Kinoshita, Kathy Brady, Nora Privitera, and Angie Junck deserve special recognition; they have done the heavy lifting on the ILRC’s civic participation work. 1. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C. and 42 U.S.C.). 265 Washington University Open Scholarship p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 12:12:00 PM 266 Journal of Law & Policy [Vol. 28:265 prospective immigrants to complete their immigration paperwork in the United States, without having to depart the country in fear of being excluded upon return. Beginning in 2001, undocumented high school students from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sonoma County instituted a campaign on the implementation of a recently-enacted California law, Assembly Bill No. 540 (“AB 540”).2 The law enables undocumented students to avoid paying out-of-state tuition if they attend a California community college or a campus of the California State University system. The student campaign was part educational, to other students who might benefit, and part policy advocacy, to influence the Regents of the prestigious University of California system to adopt the same policy. Their letter-writing and testimonial campaign proved successful, and the Regents recognized that students who have graduated from California high schools should be able to pay in- state fees regardless of immigration status. The campaign organizers benefited by partnering with the ILRC to obtain advice and training on immigration law, lobbying guidance, and media strategy. These civic engagement examples are the results of community lawyering or social change lawyering in which the staff of the ILRC has been engaged for almost thirty years. This client- and community-centered lawyering developed from the staff’s day-to-day experience with clients, families, and allies who demonstrated the talent, intelligence, and desire to engage in a collaborative approach to addressing the problems that they faced. Practicing in this collaborative or rebellious mode has become natural to the staff of the ILRC. The staff has come to realize that immigrant communities deserve our respect as trusted, competent partners. Public interest lawyers and clinical law faculty are quite familiar with the strategies of rebellious or collaborative lawyering set forth forcefully by scholars such as Gerald López, Lucie White, and most recently, Ascanio Piomelli.3 Some of the principles include educating 2. CAL. EDUC. CODE § 68130.5. See also Online Petition, Action Alert: Take Action Before January 16, http://www.chavez.ucla.edu/Ab540.htm (last visited Sept. 3, 2008). On September 15, 2008, a California appellate court ruled that AB 540 is unconstitutional. Martinez v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 166 Cal. App. 4th 1121 (Cal. Ct. app. 2008). However, the case is on appeal to the Supreme Court of California. 3. See, e.g., GERALD P. LÓPEZ, REBELLIOUS LAWYERING: ONE CHICANO’S VISION OF https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol28/iss1/10 p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 2008] A Case Study of the ILRC 267 clients and communities to support resistance; opening ourselves to being educated by clients, communities, and allies; respecting and not subordinating our clients; collaborating with clients and allies; recognizing that collaborative advocacy can lead to extremely challenging battles; and understanding that the rebellious style involves integrating and navigating many worlds. These principles have been adopted by those aspiring to practice in a manner that not only seeks to make systemic changes on behalf of subordinated communities, but that also empowers clients themselves to seek social change on their own behalf. The art of collaborative or rebellious lawyering generally is discussed, pondered, and understood in the context of direct services organizations or law offices, such as legal services offices, pro bono representation, law school clinical programs, or other law firms that may provide at least occasional services to low income or disadvantaged clients. However, the world of legal services to subordinated communities also includes support or backup centers that provide training, consultation, advice, and support to services providers at the frontlines, as well as educational outreach to low income communities. As this Article hopes to illustrate, the work of support and backup centers is quite conducive to practicing in the collaborative approach. And many of the practice examples described can, in fact, be incorporated into the day-to-day work of law school clinical programs and direct services law offices. The work of one particular legal services support center, the ILRC, is of particular interest to me. The ILRC is the outgrowth of an immigration law clinic that I started in 1979, and the ILRC has endeavored to practice social change lawyering through a collaborative, rebellious style since its inception. Today, the ILRC’s national and California education, advocacy, and empowerment initiatives are organized in the following overlapping areas: (1) civic participation (engaging immigrants in the democratic process); (2) policy and advocacy (advocacy and educational initiatives with elected officials, federal, state, and local agencies, the media, and PROGRESSIVE LAW PRACTICE (1992); Lucie E. White, Collaborative Lawyering in the Field? On Mapping the Paths from Rhetoric to Practice, 1 CLINICAL L. REV. 157 (1994); Ascanio Piomelli, Appreciating Collaborative Lawyering, 6 CLINICAL L. REV. 427 (2000). Washington University Open Scholarship p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 12:12:00 PM 268 Journal of Law & Policy [Vol. 28:265 allies on policies that impact immigrants including immigration, access to public services, and economic justice concerns); and (3) technical assistance (providing expertise on immigration law and policy to legal services attorneys, pro bono attorneys, and community based organizations). While distinct, the areas overlap in the sense that the policy and advocacy work is advanced through the civic participation of immigrants, and technical assistance is accompanied with a call to practitioners to practice in a collaborative manner that seeks to empower immigrants. The purpose of this Article is to provide a description and analysis of the ILRC’s work, with particular focus on its civic participation projects. While I provide a brief review of many ILRC programs, this Article more fully describes ILRC’s work to build capacity among immigrants and refugees and the organizations that serve them to enhance the engagement and influence of newcomers in American civic life. That work includes work with immigrant service organizations to develop and implement grassroots campaigns to improve immigration laws, and the development and promotion of new models of service that transfer knowledge, skills and power to immigrants. By focusing on civic participation examples, the Article describes projects that exemplify the program’s social change lawyering as it attempts to facilitate democratic participation by immigrants. In the process, methods are described in which ILRC staff attorneys go about doing this work in a rebellious, collaborative manner that simultaneously seeks to de-marginalize the individuals and groups with which they work. Thus, the aim of the Article is to provide an insight into how the organization has gone about doing its business in this area, in hopes of gleaning lessons and approaches that other legal services and law school clinical programs can find useful. Part I provides a brief description of the ILRC. Part II explains the ILRC’s philosophy and approaches to increasing organizations’ capacities to develop immigrant voices. Part III describes much of the work the ILRC has done that seeks to fulfill its philosophy. Part IV discusses the context of the work of the ILRC and the transferability of its strategies to the clinical and legal services settings. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol28/iss1/10 p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 2008] A Case Study of the ILRC 269 I. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMIGRANT LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER The ILRC is the outgrowth of the immigration law clinic that I started at Golden Gate University School of Law. Prior to joining the law faculty in 1979, I was the immigration attorney at the Chinatown- North Beach office of the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation. Back then, few immigration attorneys represented indigent clients on a regular basis; because I could speak enough Cantonese and Spanish to get by, I had a caseload of clients (primarily deportation and family visa cases) from all parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as many deportation clients from other parts of northern California. Rightly or wrongly, it did not take much for me to establish a reputation among community-based organizations and other legal services providers as an immigration “expert.” They regularly called upon me to provide support, advice, guidance, and consultation. The calls continued after I joined the faculty at Golden Gate. So when I started the law school immigration clinic, the students who enrolled not only represented clients, but they also assisted me in providing support to the service providers who called. This early experience revealed that northern California community-based organizations serving immigrants and refugees lacked adequate information, resources, training, and staffing to grapple with the increasingly complex legal and social challenges faced by their clients. Within a few years, the immigration clinic became a nonprofit corporation4 and qualified for California State Bar Legal Service Trust Fund monies as well as other foundational grants. The clinic adopted the name “Immigrant Legal Resource Center,” and I volunteered as the executive director until 2000. I remain an active member of the ILRC Board of Directors. Today, the ILRC is a national resource center that provides trainings, materials and advocacy to advance immigrant rights. The program has six staff attorneys and usually two to four law student clerks. As a legal services support center, the ILRC provides training 4. See 26 U.S.C. § 501 (2000). Washington University Open Scholarship p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 12:12:00 PM 270 Journal of Law & Policy [Vol. 28:265 on immigration law and procedure to legal services attorneys and paralegals, private attorneys who provide pro bono services to indigent clients, and staff from community-based organizations. However, the organization also provides community education and training programs to immigrant communities on immigrant rights, civic participation, and advocacy, as well as educational materials to policy-makers and other advocacy organizations. The ILRC’s areas of expertise are broad. In the area of immigration law and procedure, the ILRC has developed expertise in a range of topics including asylum, family-based immigration, naturalization and citizenship, immigration consequences of criminal convictions, removal proceedings and relief, the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act,5 inadmissibility and waivers of inadmissibility, immigration relief for abused immigrant women and children, and immigration consultant fraud. Its more innovative expertise includes grassroots capacity building, media outreach, and leadership development. Program services include telephone and email technical assistance, policy and legal analysis, trainings and seminars, manuals, litigation support (including representing clients, finding clients for class action cases, filing amicus briefs, serving as expert witnesses), and on-site technical assistance and case review. Several of the ILRC’s programs include the following: Advocating for Children. Through a unique project, the ILRC helps abused and abandoned immigrant children in foster care to become lawful permanent residents. The ILRC consults with juvenile court judges, county workers, and children’s advocates working on “special immigrant juvenile” petitions. The ILRC works regionally and nationally to promote humane treatment for all immigrant children. Combating Provider Fraud. The ILRC works with immigration advocates and District Attorneys across California to prosecute scam artists who offer fraudulent immigration services. The ILRC also published a manual for District Attorneys on fraud against immigrants.6 5. See infra note 8. 6. KATHERINE BRADY, IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT FRAUD: LAWS AND RESOURCES https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol28/iss1/10 p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 2008] A Case Study of the ILRC 271 Defending Immigrants’ Rights. The ILRC is part of the national Defending Immigrants Project, whose purpose is to ensure that indigent noncitizens accused of crimes receive due process and adequate representation in their hearings. The ILRC has created free resources such as the Quick Reference Chart for determining immigration consequences of California, Arizona, and Oregon convictions, and provides materials, technical assistance and training to immigration and criminal law practitioners. Immigration Relief for Survivors of Domestic Violence and Other Crimes. The ILRC offers training courses and technical support on Violence Against Women Act7 relief for battered spouses and children. These services are available to legal service organizations throughout California that receive California State Bar Legal Service Trust Fund grants, and domestic violence and immigration advocates and agencies in California. The ILRC also conducts extensive outreach designed to educate battered immigrants about the availability of health- and immigration-related benefits. To this end, the ILRC works to establish local networks of domestic violence service providers including shelter workers, attorneys, health care workers, and law enforcement personnel. Liaison Meetings with CBOs and CIS. Over the past several years the ILRC has been conducting liaison meetings between community- based organizations (“CBOs”) and the Citizenship and Immigration Service (“CIS”) offices in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno. These meetings provide CBOs the opportunity to meet with the CIS and discuss the local CIS office’s procedures and the office’s interpretation of the immigration and naturalization laws and regulations. This forum provides an opportunity to discuss difficult cases and important policies, often enabling CBOs to improve local CIS policies and procedure. Prior to each meeting, the ILRC gathers input from CBOs and sets out an agenda for the meeting. The CIS representatives study the agenda and come prepared to react to the agenda items. (2000), https://www.ilrc.org/resources/anti-fraud/District%20Attorney%20Manual.pdf. 7. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103-322, §§ 40001–703, 108 Stat. 1796, 1902–55 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C. and 43 U.S.C.). Washington University Open Scholarship p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 12:12:00 PM 272 Journal of Law & Policy [Vol. 28:265 NACARA and Asylum. The November 1997 enactment of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (“NACARA”) created significant hope for hundreds of thousands of Central American refugees stranded in the United States without legal residency after fleeing their war-torn countries in the 1980s.8 The ILRC provides seminars, informational videos, phone, email, and fax consultation. An ILRC manual, Winning NACARA Suspension Cases, provides updates on policy and regulatory changes and sample pleadings to inform pro bono attorneys and legal service providers about this form of relief for Salvadorans and Guatemalans.9 Preparing Immigrant Leaders. The ILRC offers comprehensive training courses in immigrant leadership skills, such as a three-year collaborative effort in East Palo Alto, California, with the grassroots immigrant-based organization Centro Bilingue.10 The courses offered, some of which were designed specifically for immigrant youth, successfully resulted in increased community and civic involvement. Course participants subsequently conducted more than one hundred community meetings for immigrants on topics including citizenship, the advantages of learning English, and the importance of knowing your rights. Promoting Citizenship and Civic Participation: National. The ILRC is responding to the crisis created by 1996 anti-immigration welfare reform legislation that targeted elderly immigrants and those with disabilities. Technical assistance and training is provided to service providers on how to help their clients become U.S. citizens. Staff attorneys conduct onsite workshops around the country. A telephone hotline is maintained, and materials on the naturalization process are distributed. Promoting Citizenship and Civic Participation: California. The ILRC provides technical assistance and information on the issues of naturalization, family unity, and the effects of recent laws to immigrant advocates and organizations throughout California. In the 8. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, Pub. L. No. 105-100, §§ 201–04, 111 Stat. 2160, 2193–2201 (1997) (codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C.). See Immigration Law Center, NACARA 203: Eligibility, available at http://www.ailc. com/services/residency/nacara_eligibility.htm. 9. IMMIGRANT LEGAL RES. CTR., WINNING NACARA SUSPENSION CASES (1998). 10. See discussion infra Part III.E.1. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol28/iss1/10 p 265 Hing book pages 10/31/2008 2008] A Case Study of the ILRC 273 state’s Central Valley, the ILRC is a partner in a collaborative effort that encourages citizenship and access to English language instruction. These projects promote civic participation and leadership development among California’s immigrants. Promoting Citizenship and Civic Participation: Community Meetings. The ILRC provides numerous community meetings each year promoting citizenship and civic participation. The ILRC has developed related immigration information packets in Spanish and English. The ILRC supports other organizations who wish to replicate these efforts and has produced materials for interested communities. Those materials include a Guide to Organizing an Immigration Community Meeting: A Step-by-Step Approach, and a Guide to Using ILRC’s Immigration Packets.11 Training Nonprofit Service Providers. The ILRC designed and coordinates an intensive national training program on basic immigration law and practice for nonprofit staff and paralegals who want to provide high quality legal services to low income immigrants. ILRC staff attorneys update the curriculum, and work with a national network of trainers to implement the forty-hour course in cities throughout the United States. II. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ILRC The ILRC works with immigrants and citizens to make critical legal assistance and social services accessible to all, regardless of income, and to build a society that values diversity and respects the dignity and rights of all people.12 The ILRC’s two primary goals for immigrants and refugees are clear from its mission statement: (1) to make services accessible to all and (2) to work toward a society that values diversity and the rights of all people. To achieve these goals, the ILRC has adopted an approach to its work centered around collaboration with immigrants 11. Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Guide to Using ILRC’s Immigration Packets in Community Meetings, http://www.ilrc.org/packetguide.php (last visited Sept. 7, 2008). 12. Immigrant Legal Resource Center, About the ILRC, http://www.ilrc.org/about.php (last visited Sept. 3, 2008). Washington University Open Scholarship