Immigrants’ Rights Clinic Advocacy: Assisting Detainees Affected By The Institutional Hearing Program
For the last four and a half years, the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic students have engaged in innovative advocacy to assist detainees affected by a fast-track deportation process called Institutional Hearing Program (IHP). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses IHP to initiate removal (deportation) proceedings against noncitizens who are still serving time for criminal convictions.
The clinic’s advocacy focuses on expanding the rights of noncitizens who are placed into IHP. Clinic students have worked to ensure that noncitizens have information about the IHP process; advocated for counsel for detainees; and developed advice on how to fight removal cases.
Timeline of Events
2017
Winter 2017
IRC students performed a legal needs assessment with individuals incarcerated at the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution (FCI-Dublin), a federal prison located in Dublin, California. Students traveled to FCI-Dublin on multiple occasions to interview the women in custody about their experiences in the IHP. Students also observed IHP immigration hearings held over video conference from the San Francisco Immigration Court. Students developed a 66-page internal report created for Centro Legal de la Raza, Community Services of East Palo Alto, and the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. The internal report contains students’ assessment of the legal needs of IHP detainees and a series of recommendations for next steps.
Winter 2017
Student Adam Hersh, ’18 outside the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution.
2018
Spring 2018
Students Erika Hoglund, ’19, and David Huang, ’19, outside of Taft Correctional Facility.
Spring 2018
IRC students expanded the needs assessment to detainees incarcerated at another federal prison: Taft Correctional Institution, located in the Central Valley. At that time, Taft CI was the latest prison to partner with DHS to initiate IHP proceedings. Students traveled to the Central Valley to visit and interview with individuals incarcerated and going through the IHP process. Students wrote a supplemental report for our institutional partners with additional recommendations for reform.
Spring 2018
Students Erika Hoglund, ’19, David Huang, ’19, Sophia Carrillo, ’18, and Aaron Bray, ’19 in San Francisco to observe IHP hearings at San Francisco Immigration Court.
Fall 2018
IRC students prepared and filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain more information regarding the IHP program, about which few details are publicly known. The IRC directed the FOIA requests to both the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Homeland Security. Between August 2019 and January 2022, IRC developed two federal FOIA complaints and litigated the two FOIA cases before the Northern District of California. As a result of the litigation, the federal agencies provided over 3,600 pages of documentation regarding the IHP program.
2019
Spring 2019- Spring 2020
IRC students worked with non-profit partners to prepare a demand letter to the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Executive Office of Immigration Review. The demand letter asserted that the agencies, most notably, the Bureau of Prisons, created conditions of confinement at FCI Dublin that severely restrict legal communication and effective representation of individuals going through the IHP process. Over the course of a year, the IRC and partners engaged in consistent and persistent communication with FCI Dublin to advocate for more meaningful attorney access. Students visited FCI Dublin regularly to advise individuals about the grievance process and to learn about restrictions to attorney access. Following the demand letter and subsequent communications, FCI Dublin established new and improved protocols regarding legal access. Approximately a year after IRC sent the demand letter sent, FCI Dublin halted its participation in the IHP program.
Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco v. U.S Dept. of Homeland Security, et al. (N.D. Cal)
Winter 2019
Students Hayden Rodarte, ’19, Mariel Perez-Santiago, ’20, Elizabeth Hannah, ’20, Makeba Rutahindurwa, ’19, Michaela Ross, ’20, and Allison Rothschild, ’20 developed a first-of-its-kind set of pro se materials in English and Spanish for incarcerated individuals facing removal on the fast track IHP docket. To develop the materials, students visited FCI Dublin on multiple occasions to meet with detainees to understand their questions, and to test drafts of the materials before they are finalized. While creating the materials, students became experts on both the substantive and procedural components of IHP. Students worked in collaboration with detainees to design materials that are accessible and useful.
2020
Winter 2020
Students Mishi Jain, ’21 and Lizy Trujillo, ’21, visit the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution (FCI-Dublin) with their supervisor, Lisa Weissman Ward, to interview women in custody.
2021
Spring 2021
IRC students developed a first-of-its-kind toolkit for criminal defense attorneys representing noncitizens who are at risk of placement in the IHP program. Because criminal defense attorneys are often the last legal point of contact before an individual is incarcerated, elevating awareness and providing education regarding IHP was critical to closing major information gaps. As part of the toolkit development, students joined statewide roundtable discussions to share information about the IHP program and interviewed federal and state defenders throughout California.
Spring 2021
