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Claire Brown

  • Hosted by Catholic Charities Dallas
  • Sponsored by Texas Access to Justice Foundation
  • Service location Dallas, Texas
  • Law school Texas A&M University School of Law
  • Issue area Human Rights, Immigrant Populations
  • Fellowship class year 2021
  • Program Design-Your-Own Fellowship

The Project

Claire (she/her/ella) focused on providing appellate representation to detained indigent immigrants in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Although being ordered removed from the United States is arguably the most disruptive event in an immigrant and their family’s lives, many immigrants go through the removal process without having an attorney and without truly understanding their rights and options. Once individuals lose their case in immigration court, their last opportunity to challenge their removal is to appeal, but they have very few options for finding counsel to represent them on appeal, especially if they are indigent and detained.

Claire’s Fellowship aimed to address this lack of resources and representation for individuals in immigration detention who want to appeal their cases and help increase fairness in the removal proceeding process.

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship, Claire:

  • Won two asylum cases for detained LGBT individuals from Honduras and Jamaica
  • Won a Convention Against Torture case for a detained individual from El Salvador
  • Represented 12 detained individuals in various stages of their immigration proceedings
  • Filed seven appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals
  • Provided brief services, referrals, and legal advice to over 150 individuals at weekly removal defense legal clinics

Media

Claire Brown '20 Receives Equal Justice Works Fellowship

No one deserves to be separated from the life they know or forced to live without their family simply because they couldn't afford an attorney to appeal their case. Or were detained. Or didn't understand the law.

Claire Brown /
2021 Equal Justice Works Fellow

Meet Other Fellows Like Claire

View All

Zachary Manfredi

Host: Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project

Sponsor: Anonymous

Amira Mikhail

Host: International Refugee Assistance Project

Sponsor: AIG, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Lynsay Gott

Host: World Organization for Human Rights USA

Sponsor: Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Photo of Alexandra Zaretsky

Alexandra Zaretsky

Host: International Refugee Assistance Project

Sponsor: Equal Justice Works Text-to-Give

Current Fellow