A group of students from New England Law traveled to Miami this week for spring break to assist with a Haitian TPS Clinic. The trip was organized by Erin Richards, President of the Immigration Law Association, and Professor Dina Haynes. The work that the students are doing was mentioned in USA Today on March 3, 2010. The article explains that:
After the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Haitian nationals would be eligible to apply for temporary protected status, the University of Miami School of Law's Health and Elder Law Clinic quickly developed a system largely staffed by students to help refugees with the paperwork. "Miami has a large Haitian population and there was a tremendous outpouring of goodwill and desire to help, so it seemed like this would be a useful way for law students to use their abilities," said JoNel Newman, an associate professor of clinical legal education who is the clinic's director.
After the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that Haitian nationals would be eligible to apply for temporary protected status, the University of Miami School of Law's Health and Elder Law Clinic quickly developed a system largely staffed by students to help refugees with the paperwork. "Miami has a large Haitian population and there was a tremendous outpouring of goodwill and desire to help, so it seemed like this would be a useful way for law students to use their abilities," said JoNel Newman, an associate professor of clinical legal education who is the clinic's director.
An unexpected call from someone at Stanford Law School expanded the scope of the clinic's project. A group of students there had planned to spend spring break in Haiti but decided that it didn't make sense in the aftermath of the earthquake, and instead wanted to help Haitians in the United States. They offered to help staff the clinic for a week in March.
Groups from other law schools got in touch, too, and now Miami will spend the whole month of March hosting visiting students. In addition to those from Miami and Stanford, visitors from the New England School of Law, the University of San Francisco and the University of Memphis will do week-long rotations at the clinic.
But it won't be a spring break without fun. "Our students are very excited for the visitors," Newman said. "We'll have dinners, take them to Little Haiti one afternoon to both circulate information about the clinics and have some Creole food."
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