Claire Brown

The Project

Claire (she/her/hers) will provide appellate representation to detained indigent immigrants in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, with a focus on direct representation, pro se education, and pro bono attorney training.

Although being ordered removed from the United States is arguably the most disruptive event in the life of an immigrant and their family, most 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. In the entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, there are only a few nonprofit organizations that are willing to represent detained immigrants and none currently have the resources to do more than a handful of appeals.

Claire aims to remedy 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. Claire’s desire to keep families together motivates her work to help immigrant detainees.

Fellowship Plans

During her Fellowship, Claire will represent immigrant detainees in their immigration appeals. She will develop resources to give detainees a better understanding of the appeals process so that they can represent themselves when Claire is unable to. She will also build her host organization’s network of pro bono attorneys willing to represent detainees on appeal.

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