New Six-State Judicial Network to Train State Courts on Critical Immigration Issues
CONTACTS
Leslye Orloff, NIWAP Director
orloff@wcl.american.edu
202-210-8886
David Thronson, MSU Assoc. Dean for Experiential Education
david.thronson@law.msu.edu
517-432-6916
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC and EAST LANSING, Mich., Oct. 11, 2017 – Expert trainers, faculty, judges, court administrators, and advocates are gathering in East Lansing, Mich., Oct. 13, 2017, to kick-off a new six-state judicial training project. The new judicial network is being formed to train state courts to address federal immigration law and policy changes that arise in family and juvenile cases on the state level, and ensure that critical and complex legal issues are correctly addressed.
Expert trainers from the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP) at American University Washington College of Law and faculty from the Michigan State University College of Law Immigration Law Clinic will offer training, technical assistance, and resources to state court judges and court staff on effective responses to the unique needs of immigrant women and children affected by domestic violence, abuse, and sexual assault.
“Judges want to do what is best for children and crime victims and are statutorily obligated to do so,” said Leslye Orloff, NIWAP director, AUWCL adjunct professor, and project lead trainer. “When judges are sitting in court hearing a child custody, child support, divorce, or protection order case, they need access to timely and legally correct information on how state laws interact with federal immigration law and what legal remedies they can provide to the people before them in court.”
The six participating states in this new judicial network project are Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, and New Mexico – six states with new and growing immigrant communities in both urban and rural areas of their states. The launch of this judicial network is intended to serve as a pilot and model for other U.S. states. Judicial trainings and subsequent technical assistance programs will include teams of community-based partners and judges from each state, along with a core of judges on the national training team and support from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
“ We need courts to be informed about how federal immigration law intersects with state laws. When judges and court administrators lack that knowledge...their rulings can cause real harm to children and families.”
Veronica Thronson, director of the MSU Law Clinic.
The Judicial Training Network is funded through a $2.6 million dollar, three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich. The project is led by the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at American University Washington College of Law, in partnership with law faculty from Michigan State University College of Law.
“We need courts to be informed about how federal immigration law intersects with state laws,” said Veronica Thronson, director of the MSU Law Clinic. “When judges and court administrators lack that knowledge, they make faulty assumptions and their rulings can cause real harm to children and families. But when judges have timely access to legally correct information about how immigration status impacts their rulings, they can make decisions that benefit children on issues like protection orders, custody, child support, alimony, and child abuse.”
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About the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project
and American University Washington College of Law
NIWAP, the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project, was established in 2012 at American University Washington College of Law. NIWAP is a national resource center offering training and technical assistance that supports a wide range of professionals who work with immigrant women, children, and crime victims. Trainings are provided by NIWAP’s staff, who bring a combined 42 years of legal and advocacy experience, and by NIWAP’s expert judicial, law enforcement, prosecutor, advocate, and attorney partners from jurisdictions across the country. NIWAP staff played a lead role in drafting and assisting government officials in implementing the immigration protections, access to legal services and public benefits provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act, and other federal legislation. For more information, visit www.wcl.american.edu/impact/initiatives-programs/niwap.
In 1896, American University Washington College of Law became the first law school in the country founded by women. More than 120 years since its founding, this law school community is grounded in the values of equality, diversity, and intellectual rigor. The law school's nationally and internationally recognized programs (in clinical legal education, trial advocacy, international law, and intellectual property to name a few) and dedicated faculty provide its JD, LL.M., and SJD students with the critical skills and values to have an immediate impact as students and as graduates, in Washington, DC and around the world. For more information, visit wcl.american.edu.
About Michigan State University College of Law
Michigan State University College of Law brings together leading legal thinkers and talented future lawyers, offering exceptional student support and a wide range of experiential learning opportunities. MSU Law grads serve their clients in every type of legal practice, from private firms to Fortune 100 companies to global nonprofits to government agencies. They practice law in all 50 states and all over the world. Students in MSU’s Immigration Law Clinic have represented vulnerable immigrant clients from more than 80 countries, including abused, abandoned and neglected children; crime and trafficking victims; and persons fleeing persecution. Immigration Law Clinic faculty bring 45 combined years of legal practice experience and 30 years of legal education experience to their work.
About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.