Immigrant Detainee Justice Project

The Immigrant Detainee Justice Project is a partnership between ATJI and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) in Tacoma. Through the Immigrant Detainee Justice Project, SU law students will attend, observe, and analyze detained court proceedings which take place at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. The purpose of the observation is to provide valuable information about the visiting rotating immigration judges presiding over detainees at the Northwest Detention Center.

The information law students provide will be used by NWIRP attorneys to provide better information and legal assistance to the 90% of detainees at the Northwest Detention Center who do not have legal representation. In addition, this information will be archived and made available to NWIRP attorneys and pro bono attorneys who have cases before the visiting rotating immigration judges.

Interested law students will be asked to attend an hour-long training and will be given specific forms to fill out during the course of each observation. An average court "observation" will take about 2.5 - 3 hours, excluding travel time. Limited gas subsidies may be available and carpools can be arranged. Students can volunteer as often as one time per week to one time per month, or just one time.

If you are interested in participating in this project, please contact ATJI Associate Director, Monika Batra Kashyap at batram@seattleu.edu.