Navigating the Border - Ethical, Existential, and Logistical Considerations in Law School Service Trips

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Harborside Ballroom A

Floor: Fourth Floor

The U.S./Mexico border has been a lightning rod in American politics for years, and now the Trump Administration has made the border a focal point for cruel and aggressive policies targeted at asylum seekers and migrants. The unrelenting barrage of inhumane border policies has included closures of the border, immediate expulsions of asylum seekers without any process, family detention, family separation, asylum bans, the dangerous “remain in Mexico” program, and more. As clinicians working in the immigration field, it is devastating to witness and we feel a deep-rooted responsibility to act. Together with our students, and in response to these harmful and draconian policies, we have organized service trips to the region. But doing so comes with numerous logistical, ethical, and structural challenges. During this panel, practitioners with experience leading student service trips to the border will address the challenging questions that arise when planning such trips. First, we will present a facilitated discussion during which panelists will share the practicalities and logistical considerations of organizing border trips with students and reflect on best practices. Next, in small breakout groups, we will discuss the bigger ethical and existential questions that arise when participating in this work. How can we, as faculty and students, engage in this critical work as “outsiders”? What does it mean to parachute into communities that are typically not our own, to perform short term legal work? What contemporaneous and post-trip reflection work should we incorporate into these experiences? How do we manage the potential for secondary and vicarious trauma exposure both for ourselves, and for our students? How can we bring our border work back to our clinics so that the experience and learning are cohesive parts of our curriculum?