From Wisconsin to Colombia, UW Law’s Immigrant Justice Clinic provides free legal information and representation to people seeking refuge in the U.S.
In February, Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) at University of Wisconsin Law School, sat at a table in Bogotá, Colombia, to consult with families from Haiti, Cameroon, Colombia and Venezuela — all hoping to seek asylum in the United States.
After listening to their stories and plans, Barbato and her students counseled the asylum-seekers on what they could expect from the immigration process, hoping to equip them with knowledge and resources before they took a perilous journey on foot through the Darién Gap. The 60-mile stretch between Colombia and Panama, with its dense rainforest, mountains and swamps, poses dangers ranging from jaguars and crocodiles to violent criminal gangs. For many, it’s the only way to get to the southern border of the United States in hopes of starting a new life.
“We’re researching ways to reduce the harm people suffer on their way to the United States to seek asylum,” Barbato said. “So, part of that is talking to them before they leave Colombia and risk their lives by crossing the most dangerous passage in the world. We are one of the first to do this transnational clinical work in Colombia south of the Darién Gap. It really is groundbreaking work.”
Barbato is also looking at alternative legal migration pathways, such as the Safe Mobility Offices, which allow people to apply for refugee status from those offices located in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
“We’re trying to target policies and procedures that can allow less traffic at the Southern border and also reduce the harm that people have faced when they’re attempting to seek asylum in the United States,” she said.
Barbato takes students to Mexico and Colombia at various times each year to conduct translational immigration clinics for migrants who are considering seeking refuge or to reunite with family in the United States. She partners with other law schools and nongovernmental organizations in Colombia and Mexico.
“I think that taking students to the southern border to really see what’s happening, and also to be in service of people who are in the process of migrating and are stuck on the other side of a border, is very important,” Barbato said. “I also think students are some of the best people to do this type of work. Our students are smart, intelligent, compassionate and dedicated. I cannot do this work without them.”
“Every time my students witness the power of their law degree is monumental for them as well as for me. It’s a reminder of why we went to school, why we learned these laws, why we learned these ethics.” – Erin Barbato
The transnational program is funded by a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) grant in partnership with Jorge Osorio and the Global Health Institute as well as Professor Sara McKinnon and the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.
IJC also remains active closer to home. Since 2012, the IJC has played a leading role in helping immigrants who have settled in Wisconsin. Clinicians regularly help undocumented immigrants detained at the Dodge County Correctional Facility, the state’s only U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) site, by consulting with 30 to 40 detainees every month, offering everything from legal advice to help calling a spouse to let them know their loved one has been detained.
The IJC takes on about six cases from Dodge County each year, representing its clients in the Chicago Immigration Court. The most gratifying moments: When the UW team wins a case and gets to witness an asylum seeker, who entered the courtroom in a prison uniform and handcuffs, finally walk free.
“I’m humbled on a daily basis, especially by the work my students do,” Barbato said. “Every time my students witness the power of their law degree is monumental for them as well as for me. It’s a reminder of why we went to school, why we learned these laws, why we learned these ethics.”
The IJC takes 10 law students each year, and post-graduate fellows assist with the caseload.
Gita Connolly ’24 recently received a prestigious post-graduate fellowship from the Berkeley Law Foundation, allowing her to continue her work with the IJC with a focus on immigration and labor. She is helping the IJC launch the DALE Center for Worker Justice to help eligible workers apply for Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) and to advocate for statewide changes.
“Undocumented workers suffer disproportionately from wage theft, dangerous working conditions and human trafficking, but are less likely to speak out about labor abuses since employers often retaliate by reporting workers to immigration officials,” Connolly said. “My hope is that the act of opening a center to support undocumented workers will signal to precarious workers that their voices and rights matter, and that we value them as members of our Wisconsin communities.”
In September 2024 , the IJC received funding from the Immigrant Justice Corps to hire two fellows to work with children who arrived in the U.S. with a parent, helping them apply for special immigrant juvenile status or other legal protections.
“Wisconsin has been found to be an immigrant services desert for everyone, but in particular for children,” Barbato said. “So, there’s a huge need, and we’re trying to fill that gap through clinical education. The additional funding for our fellows will help us expand the services in the state for children who otherwise would be facing the immigration system alone.”
The IJC keeps its focus nimble and can shift as world events and border policies change. In 2021, for example, Barbato was assisting unaccompanied children held in El Paso, Texas, when she got the call that more than 12,000 Afghan refugees were arriving at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
“You can’t plan for everything,” she said. “So, I just try to stay limber and stay in service of others.”
The need is always greater than the IJC’s limited resources, and the team often has to “say no” to people seeking assistance daily.
But with every “yes,” the IJC team does its part to live out the Wisconsin Idea.
“The University of Wisconsin should benefit everyone within Wisconsin and beyond our borders, and there’s nothing that encompasses that more than what we do here,” Barbato said. “We’re benefiting people who are living, working and studying here, but then we’re really taking it beyond our borders to serve people from around the world.”
By Nicole Sweeney Etter
