Learning in Baby Jail: Lessons from Law Student Engagement in Immigration Detention Centers

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Franciscan A

Floor: Ballroom Level

In recent years, over 40 law schools and over 1000 law students have engaged in learning within family detention centers. The Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and implementation of wide-scale family separation led widespread public outcry and to increased involvement by professors and students in the constantly shifting landscape of immigration detention. As detention of families and of immigrants more broadly seems here to stay, this concurrent session will be a forum for reflection and sharing of best practices for student engagement in the family detention context and beyond. A recent article in the Clinical Law Review shares the results of a national survey of clinicians and immigration professors who have engaged in this work and broadly categorizes student engagement under three umbrellas: within clinic, within a service-learning or practicum (for credit) setting, or pro bono/student-led engagement. We will share the insights gleaned, along with perspectives from clinicians who have engaged with students in varying ways: through repeated local engagement with one detention center in Texas, through more ad hoc and quickly responsive work done within the family separation context in Arizona and in Tijuana, and through traveling from out of state to different detention centers in Texas.
This session will explore best practices for preparing students to engage in intensive work within a detention center or on the border, the logistics and structure of that engagement, addressing secondary trauma, reflection, debriefing, and the question of how and whether to continue engagement with on-the-ground organizations and individuals once no longer physically present at the site of service. Our goal is to provide experiential educators who have already engaged in this work with an opportunity to share their own reflections, but also to provide resources for those who may be contemplating embarking on a trip or project with students.