James H. Binger Center for News Americans: 2021-22 Annual Report

H. Binger

for New Americans

the cover: Clients of the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic were granted asylum after they were forced to flee to the United States. Originally from Oaxaca, Mexico's southern state, the family was targeted for extortion by a cartel. When they didn't pay, gunmen opened fire on the family's car, striking the father and mother several times, and causing her to lose her unborn child. Their daughter also suffered gunshot wounds when she shielded her younger brother in the attack. Professor Stephen Meili and students from the clinic worked with the family to secure asylum.

James H. Binger Center for New Americans

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans is a comprehensive immigration program at the University of Minnesota Law School that brings together students, faculty, and community partners to advocate for immigrants at the local and national level. Founded in 2013, the Binger Center’s four immigration law clinics and education and outreach program provide urgently needed legal services to immigrants, pursue impact litigation that will improve our nation’s immigration laws, and educate immigrants about their rights. This unique and collaborative model allows students to directly represent immigrants in court, participate in community advocacy and policy development, and litigate appeals in federal court to break down systemic barriers facing immigrants.

Since its inception,

James H. Binger Center for New Americans

nonprofit

of Minnesota

Legal Aid

The Advocates for Human Rights

together with partner

firms provided

bono

in

James H. Binger CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

The Minnesota Law team who traveled to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, were former executive director Deepinder Mayell; Carli Cortina, 3L; Ben Gleekel, 3L; Nicole Carter, 2L; and outreach and education coordinator Mahmoud Ahmed Coryn Johnson, 2L (not pictured), was also a member of the team.

“It felt good to be productive and to help people get further along in the immigration process. They have made a lot of sacrifices and they deserve to be supported.”

— NICOLE CARTER, 2L

Responding to Crisis: Providing Support to Afghan Evacuees

Minnesota Law students, faculty, and staff from the James H. Binger Center for New Americans provided legal support to Afghan refugees on the Fort McCoy military base in Wisconsin last winter. The team helped the refugees understand the complex and often challenging U.S. immigration system, prepare their asylum or special immigrant visa applications, and get connected to a nationwide network of lawyers.

Nearly 13,000 Afghans passed through Fort McCoy after being airlifted from their native country when the Taliban took over. When the Binger Center staff learned of the need for volunteer immigration attorneys and paralegals to help with the overwhelming caseload, they reached out to the lawyers in the Ft. McCoy Operation Allies Welcome legal clinic, operated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Minnesota Law team aided an estimated 70-95 Afghan guests over three days in late January, says Deepinder Singh Mayell, former executive director of the Binger Center. While these refugees are granted temporary status to stay in the U.S. for up to three years, Mayell says there is hope that Congress will pass an adjustment act to streamline the asylum process, given the volume and unique situation of these refugees. Until that time, each Afghan guest must file for asylum or a special immigrant visa.

Afghan guests were aided by the Binger Center

The Education and Outreach Program works with a multifaceted network of advocates, nonprofits, community leaders, law students, and service providers to support vulnerable noncitizens directly in the com munities in which they live. The program is driven by needs identified by immigrant communities and uses a host of outreach strategies including immigration clinics, capacity building, in-person speaking events, livestreams, and volunteer engagement.

community members participated in

events in 2021–22

Symposium: La Triste Frontera: The Sad Border and the American Dream

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans, Frente Accion Latinx de Minnesota, the City of St. Paul Immigrant and Refugee Program, and the Minneapolis Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs co-sponsored a medical-legal collaborative symposium, "La Triste Frontera: The Sad Border and the American Dream," in June that addressed border-related dangers and traumas created by United States immigration laws and policies. The conference also covered the lasting impact on migrants to the U.S. and sought solutions through collaborative health, legal, and policy strategies to build community support for migrants and assist with the healing process.

The keynote address was delivered by Ambassador Iván Roberto Sierra Medel, Head Consul of Mexico in St. Paul. He spoke on “Mexican Consular Office Services in Minnesota to migrants that have special needs and are experiencing community integration difficulties due to border crossing issues.”

View the conference playlist: z.umn.edu/latristefrontera

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the audience at the “La Triste Frontera” conference.

James H. Binger CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Education

Providing Medical and Legal Support for Underserved Communities

This past year, the Medical-Legal Collaborative partnered with El Colegio vaccine clinics to offer legal services during clinic times. Medical-legal events were also held at LEAP School in St. Paul. A focus for the past six months was developing relationships with organizations serving the East African communities. Several state agencies, healthcare providers, the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, and the University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics and Department of Neurology hosted a large medical-legal clinic at As Siddique Islamic Center to help meet needs in the community.

COLLABORATIVE

BY THE NUMBERS

500 community members served since 2018

clinics held since 2018

The Collaborative partners with

Miguel E. Fiol-Elías, MD Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Care Center

University of Minnesota Medical School

“Hundreds of clients with both medical issues and legal concerns have received medical and legal advice, as well as vaccinations at over 40 events sponsored by the Medical-Legal Collaborative. The Collaborative relies on volunteers and partnerships with up to 10 community organizations, serving clients in their own communities where immigrants feel safe and respected. In addition to providing local medical and legal assistance, the Collaborative recently campaigned to obtain Covid vaccines for residents of Colombia and humanitarian relief for hurricane victims in Honduras.”

The Medical-Legal Collaborative was established in 2018 and brings together attorneys, doctors, nurses, social workers, and other providers to meet the needs of the underserved immigrant community. The Collaborative hosts pop-up clinics in parks, churches, schools, and community centers. With more than 40 events held across Minnesota and hundreds of community members served, the clinics have expanded services, and are a one-stop point for trusted information and legal and medical consultation, including free flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

legal, medical, and governmental entities

Minnesota Department of Health Minnesota Attorney General Asamblea de Derechos Civiles Frente Accion Latinx de Minnesota

City of St. Paul Immigrant and Refugee Program Minneapolis Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs

University of Minnesota Medical School Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee Office of Refugee and Immigrant Affairs, City of Minneapolis Puerto Ricans in Minnesota

James H. Binger CENTER FOR

AMERICANS

“It was an honor to be able to help this client win his case so he could return to his community and reunite with his family.”

— RYANN FREEMAN, 3L

Students from the Detainee Rights Clinic Ryann Freeman, 3L, and Sarah Brickson, 3L

Detainee Clinic Obtains Release of South Sudanese Client

DETAINEE RIGHTS

THE NUMBERS IN 2021–22

The Detainee Rights Clinic is led by Professor Linus Chan and trains students to provide merits and bond representation to immigrants being detained in Minnesota county jails. Students develop skills working directly with detained clients, filing habeas petitions and advocating for fundamental protections for immigrants and change in unfair criminal justice and immigration systems.

Professor Linus Chan and student attorney Ryann Freeman, 3L, traveled to a Minnesota jail last fall to meet with a detainee after receiving a referral from the Court Observer Program about an individual struggling in Immigration Court. Student attorney Freeman took on the case under Chan’s supervision and began appearing in Immigration Court on behalf of the client. The Department of Homeland Security sought to remove the detainee, a former refugee from Sudan. With legal research assistance from Sarah Brickson, 3L, Freeman successfully argued that removal would endanger their client and expose the person to persecution and harm. Their client was able to stay in the United States.

detained immigrants represented in full hearings this year

law students enrolled in the Detainee Rights Clinic

Professor Linus Chan.

“What drew me to this clinic and to immigration work is an awareness that there are communities in the United States that have a very different reality in access to courts and justice. I’m grateful to be on a team striving to change that.”

— ASHLEY MEEDER ’22

The Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic team who worked on the Jasso case incuded Jesse Calo ’22, Ashley Meeder ’22, visiting clinical professor Nadia Anguiano-Wehde ’17, and adjunct professor Paul Dimick ’19

James H. Binger CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Federal

Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Wins Decisive Victory in 6th Circuit

The Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic equips students to lead complex impact litigation in collaboration with community partners at all federal court levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic students, faculty, and alumni helped win a decisive second victory allowing a man to reunite with family in the United States and potentially sparing others from unlawful repeated removal actions in a key procedural ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Jasso Arangure v. Garland serves as a significant check on federal prosecutorial power in administrative immigration proceedings. Not only does the Sixth Circuit's decision restore Mr. Jasso Arangure to his lawful permanent resident status, allowing him to return to the United States, it also applies across four midwestern states—Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee— to bar the Department of Homeland Security from unlawfully bringing repeated removal actions against noncitizens. The decision also provides a legal framework for making similar arguments in other circuits in order to extend the application of res judicata in removal proceedings nationwide.

FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LITIGATION

BY THE NUMBERS IN 2021–22

students participated in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

cases at several Circuit Courts of Appeals

petitions for a Writ of Certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court

total federal matters handled with partners

Visiting assistant clinical professor and director of the Federal Litigation Immigration Clinic Nadia Anguiano-Wehde ’17

“The most meaningful aspect of this experience was the relationship that the client and I built over the course of representation. I am humbled that she trusted our team to help her in the beginning of her journey in the United States.”

— YEMAYA HANNA ’22

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic students who worked on an asylum case on behalf of a Guinean client, included: Yemaya Hanna ’22, Jennifer Melton, 3L, and Hanna Stenersen, 3L. Adjunct professor Emily Good ’03, Patrick Murray ’22, and Ryan Rainey ’21 also worked on the case.

James H. Binger CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

Immigration

Advocating for Asylum Seekers in a Hostile Climate

I MMIGRATION & HUMAN RIGHTS

BY THE NUMBERS IN 2021–22

students participated in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

cases were

asylum victories, totaling

Led by Professor Stephen Meili, students in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic navigate a continually changing political climate to represent asylum seekers, victims of trafficking, and detained immigrants.

Clinic students produced a significant and comprehensive report about the harsh and repressive conditions faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Guatemala. The students—Yemaya Hanna ’22, Patrick Murray ’22 (pictured above with clinic director Professor Steve Meili), and Ryan Rainey ’21 (not pictured)— worked in close collaboration with the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM), which published the well-researched report. ORAM is an international nonprofit organization devoted to protecting and empowering LGBTIQ asylum seekers and refugees globally.

A Guinean client was granted asylum with help from clinic team. Clinic students (pictured left) were part of a team that successfully helped a Guinean women win asylum in the United States. The client faced persecution in her native country because of her religious beliefs, her women’s rights advocacy work, and her work in the public health sector.

individuals and their family members who were protected from persecution based domestic violence, gender, female genital mutilation, religion, and political opinion.

Clinic clients are from

countries: Cameroon, El Salvador, Gambia, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, and Russia

“I was in awe of the resilience of the individuals I met while in the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic and as part of the Afghan Evacuee Project. Evacuees shared stories full of violence and grief, yet they sat in front of me, full of hope and plans for their future. The asylum process is long and confusing, so I was grateful to provide guidance and move each person one step closer to making this country their home.”

James H. Binger CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

— CARLY CORTINA, 3L

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic student Carli Cortina, 3L

Providing Vital Resources to Rural Immigrants

Led by former executive director of the Binger Center Deepinder Mayell, the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic offered comprehensive legal screenings and brief services in rural Minnesota.

There are 45,000 food processing workers in Minnesota and 41% of them are foreign born. Although immigrants drive production of essential goods for distribution across the country, access to legal resources in rural areas is limited. The Rural Immigrant Access Clinic partners with staff and volunteers from The Advocates for Human Rights, the Volunteer Lawyers Network, as well as community organizers from ACLU-MN and Unidos, Fe y Justicia to pro vide pop-up legal clinics throughout the state. This year, the clinic deepened its work by providing legal assistance to asylum seekers in Central Minnesota in response to a community request from Fe y Justicia, a nonprofit organization based in Waite Park, Minnesota. Fe y Justicia works to reduce the resource gap in rural Minnesota and strengthens the Latino community through community based clinics and services, advocacy efforts, and policy reform initiatives.

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic students, faculty, staff, and partners at an intake session in Waite Park, Minnesota, last winter.

The Binger Center held a farewell event for three key leaders last April. Pictured above, front row: Lorena Anderson, Deepinder Mayell, Nadia AnguianoWehde ’17, Kathleen Moccio, Ben Casper Sanchez '97, and Mahmoud Ahmed Back row: Linus Chan and Steve Meili.

Transitions for the James H. Binger Center for New Americans

The Binger Center started its pilot year in 2013 and was permanently endowed with a $25 million dollar gift from the Robina Foundation in 2017. Since then, the Binger Center has grown into a dynamic team of dedicated faculty, staff, adjuncts, and interns with more than 50 law students enrolled in its clinic courses each year. Working on behalf of immigrants at the local, national, and international level, the Binger Center impacts the lives many clients and their families.

This year, the Center wished a fond farewell to three key leaders. The Minnesota Law community expresses its deepest gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Professor Benjamin Casper Sanchez ’97, whose leadership and vision remain at the very foundation of the Binger Center’s mission; Deepinder Mayell, who joined the Center in December 2015 as the education and outreach program director and has served as its executive director since 2018; and Kathleen Moccio, who brought decades of immigration litigation experience with her when she joined the Binger Center in 2018 as a visiting assistant clinical professor. The Binger Center also said farewell to Lorena Anderson, executive office and administrative specialist, who joined the Center in 2019.

While saying goodbye is never easy, we are thrilled to welcome new faces to the Binger Center: Sarah Brenes joined the Center as the new executive director this summer; Mahmoud Ahmed joined the Center as the outreach & education coordinator; and Teresa Padrón is the executive office & administrative specialist. Visiting assistant clinical professor of law Nadia Anguiano-Wehde ’17 was named director of the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic for 2022–23, and Seiko Shastri ’21 and Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18 have joined the Center as immigration legal fellows.

James H. Binger CENTER FOR

Working on Behalf of Immigrants and Noncitizens

Introducing new leaders at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans

Sarah Brenes joined the the James H. Binger Center for New Americans as its new executive director in August. Sarah served as a staff attorney and program director at one of the Binger Center’s nonprofit institutional partners, The Advocates for Human Rights, where she trained and supported pro bono attorneys representing asylum seekers, human trafficking survivors, and unaccompanied children and immigrants in detention. She has experience working with nonprofit organizations and private immigration firms serving immigrant clients.

Nadia Anguiano-Wehde ’17 was appointed visiting clinical professor of law and named the director of the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic (FILC) this year. She has worked full-time in FILC since 2019 and was a student director in FILC as a law student. Before returning to the Law School to work in the Binger Center, Nadia served as a law clerk for the Hon. Susan Richard Nelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and Hon. Jane Kelly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18 joined the Center as an immigration and human rights clinical fellow and visiting assistant professor in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic. Prior to joining Minnesota Law, she was an Equal Justice Works fellow with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, where she worked on responding to legal changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”). Mackenzie also worked as an attorney advisor at the Otay Mesa Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, United States Department of Justice, in San Diego, California.

Seiko Shastri ’21 joined the Center as an immigration litigation fellow and visiting assistant professor in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic. Prior to joining Minnesota Law, she served as a litigation fellow at the Immigrant Defense Project, a leading national organization engaged in targeted litigation in support of challenges to deportations and other adverse immigration consequences based on criminal convictions.

Sarah Brenes

Executive Director Director of Education and Outreach Lecturer in Law

Rural Immigrant Access Clinic

Faculty and Staff

Linus Chan Associate Clinical Professor Vaughan G. Papke Research Scholar Detainee Rights Clinic

Stephen Meili Professor of Law James H. Michael Chair in International Human Rights

Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Nadia AnguianoWehde ’17

Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Adjunct Faculty

Mahmoud Ahmed Community Outreach and Program Coordinator

Teresa Padrón Executive Office and Administrative Specialist

Mackenzie Heinrichs ’18 Legal Immigration Fellow Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Seiko Shastri ’21 Legal Immigration Fellow Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic

Mirella Ceja-Orozco Co-Executive Director Minnesota Freedom Fund

Paul Dimick ’19 Staff Attorney Minnesota Freedom Fund

Mary Georgevich ’18 Senior Litigation Attorney National Immigrant Justice Center

Alicia Granse ’19 Assistant Public Defender Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office

Faculty Honors & Recognition

Nadia Anguiano-Wehde ’17

was promoted to visiting assistant clinical professor of law and director of the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic for 2022–23.

Stephen Meili

was promoted to professor of law and named the James H. Michael Chair in Immigration and Human Rights Law, and named director of Law Clinics.

Faculty Publications

Linus Chan

Weighing Pain: How the Harm of Immigration Detention Must Be Factored in Custody Decisions, 27 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 865 (2021).

Stephen Meili

Constitutionalized Human Rights Law in South Africa: Does It Help Refugees and AsylumSeekers? , 53 George Washington International Law Review 177 (2021).

James H. Binger

CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

VISIT THE JAMES H. BINGER CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS

LAW.UMN.EDU/JAMES-H-BINGER-CENTER-NEW-AMERICANS

The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

©2022 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.