The Immigration Law Clinic provides students with comprehensive, hands-on experience representing noncitizens in a wide range of immigration matters before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), and federal courts. The Immigration Law Clinic will be held in collaboration with the Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, Inc. (VLP).

Under the supervision of experienced immigration attorneys, students will engage in direct client representation in affirmative and defensive proceedings. This will include conducting client interviews, gathering and organizing evidence, researching applicable law, and assisting in the preparation of filings. Students will handle real cases involving affirmative applications for immigration benefits, including family-based petitions, naturalization applications, employment authorization, adjustment of status, asylum applications filed affirmatively with USCIS, humanitarian relief such as U Visas and VAWA petitions. Concurrently, students will represent clients in defensive removal proceedings before the Immigration Court, including defending against deportation, seeking relief from removal such as cancellation of removal, asylum, and withholding of removal, and representing clients at master calendar hearings.

During the clinic, students will have the opportunity to attend and observe Immigration Court, and to attend and conduct client interviews before the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility. If the opportunity arises, students may be able to handle a Master Calendar Hearing before either the Buffalo or Batavia Immigration Courts. The clinic also provides students with exposure to appellate and federal court litigation. Students may draft appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), prepare petitions for review to federal circuit courts, draft habeas corpus petitions challenging immigration detention, and file complaints in federal district court challenging agency delays or seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

All students will not necessarily work on the same type of cases. Frequently, the cases will require that students communicate with their clients through an interpreter. Students will meet regularly with the Clinic Instructors to discuss case strategy and prepare work plans for their cases.

Please note that this clinic includes visits to the federal facilities administered by either the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Students who are not U.S. Citizens or U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents are encouraged to consult with an attorney prior to enrollment in this clinic.