When attorneys represent an immigrant or refugee for the first time, or visit a detention
center, their perspective on the United States justice system changes dramatically,” says
Mary Meg McCarthy (JD ’89), executive director of the Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant
Justice Center (NIJC). “They’re appalled at the lack of justice. It’s really transformative and
builds the movement.”
McCarthy is one of the Loyola law alums devoting their careers to practicing immigration
law. Whether they’re representing children from violence-torn countries who have entered the
country unaccompanied by adults, working to make federal law and policy more immigrant
friendly, or helping global victims of persecution gain US refugee status, many Loyola grads
have channeled their passion for public interest work into this high-need area of law.
“This program is a big part of
what we as Americans value:
providing a place of refuge.”
—Matthew Walter (JD ’07)
ACCESSTO JUSTICE
SAFEGUARDING HUMAN RIGHTS
From Arizona
to Asia, Loyolans
labor on behalf
of immigrants
and refugees
Repairing a
broken system
Although the government
assists indigent criminal defendants
and civil litigants through public
defenders and legal aid attorneys, it
doesn’t provide attorneys for people
in immigration removal proceedings.
“Even though the courts have said
that removal proceedings are not
a criminal process, the systems are
becoming more and more similar,
especially when detention is
concerned—except that individuals
facing removal have fewer due
process rights,” says McCarthy. “And
the consequences of being removed
are very often life or death.”
The NIJC is one of the
organizations working to close
the gap in access through direct
representation of immigrant clients.
Using an innovative pro bono
model, the NIJC trains attorneys,
most of whom have no immigration
experience, to provide legal services
to more than 10,000 individuals each
year. This corps of 1,500 pro bono
attorneys, including and welcoming
more Loyola graduates, has a 90
percent success rate in obtaining
asylum for people fleeing persecution
in their home countries.
Right now, many of the NIJC’s
direct client service efforts are
targeted toward the large numbers
of unaccompanied children coming
from what’s known as the
“Northern Triangle”: El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala. These
countries are rocked by violence—
Honduras has the highest murder
rate in the world—and many children
leave to escape exceptionally
dangerous situations in their homes
and communities.
“With the current crisis in Central
America, it’s more important than
ever that we strengthen our pro bono
community,”McCarthy says. Mothers
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LOYOLA LAW
FALL 2014
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