Crystal Johnson
The Project
Three Rivers Legal Services is a non-profit corporation which provides free civil legal services to low-income clients in seventeen counties throughout North Florida. Our mission is to provide quality legal assistance and to empower and educate through preventive legal education. While at Three Rivers I will focus on the particularly vulnerable homeless populations, including veterans and battered immigrant women. I also hope to inspire students and pro bono attorneys to commit to serving the underprivileged with their legal abilities.
The Inspiration
The Project
Thousands of men, women and children arrive in Florida as victims of trafficking each year. Unfortunately, advocacy throughout Florida for those victims is sparse. Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) in Miami has developed a technique of collaborating with social service providers, law enforcement and other agencies to provide holistic representation to clients. This project will adapt that model to provide well-rounded services to victims of trafficking throughout all of Florida.
The Inspiration
The Project
Munmeeth provided direct legal services to low-income clients in the area of immigration law. Munmeeth assisted victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and other serious crimes to gain lawful nonimmigrant status through T and U visas or petition for lawful permanent resident status under the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). Additionally, Munmeeth spent time managing and involving law students with the Public Law Center’s Family Advocates Legal clinics.
The Project
My project includes family law and criminal law remedies for women trafficked into prostitution by their boyfriends and husbands, as well as immigration representation through the T and U visas. I will work with former victims to develop a collective voice to contribute to policy efforts around trafficking. Finally, by litigating for victims of trafficking who remain excluded from the U.S. for their acts of prostitution, I will ask the courts to question the hard line between "bad" sex workers and "good" trafficking victims.
The Inspiration
The Project
The Trafficking Asylum Project uses impact litigation to establish asylum eligibility for survivors of human trafficking. While current U.S. law provides a limited form of relief to trafficked persons, gaps in the law allow many to fall through the cracks and remain ineligible for protection. As a result, many survivors will be deported to their country of origin where they may face punishment or re-trafficking. The project also involves workshops for immigration practitioners on litigating trafficking related asylum claims.
The Inspiration
The Project
Emily addressed the legal needs of sex trafficking victims in New York by providing representation in criminal, family and immigration cases. It also promotes the implementation of New York anti-trafficking laws through advocacy, coalition building and trainings.
The Project
The Bay Area currently suffers from a dearth of culturally competent legal services. As a result, many immigrant survivors of domestic violence find themselves unable to access the legal services they need to escape their abusive situations. Leeja aimed to fill this gap and to alleviate gender-based violence in the Bay Area’s South Asian community by (a) providing comprehensive domestic violence, family law, and immigration services; (b) conducting culturally competent outreach and education initiatives; (c) advocating for improved services and community involvement; and (d) connecting key stakeholder organizations through a domestic violence task force.
The Project
This project will provide holistic direct representation to immigrant youth who are survivors of labor and sex trafficking. It will involve building bridges to community-based organizations, identifying trafficked youth, stabilizing their immigration status, and assisting in matters related to family, education and employment.
The Inspiration
The Project
The numbers of guestworkers trafficked into extreme labor conditions in the United States is increasing. Unable to demand fair working conditions or even leave their employers, guestworkers are subject to various coercive factors designed to keep them trapped in indefinite servitude. This project seeks to expand support to guestworkers, particularly in the South, through direct representation, federal agency advocacy and collaboration with civil service organizations, organizers and labor trafficking survivors themselves.
The Inspiration
The Project
Agatha provided direct legal services to domestic and other low-wage Asian immigrant workers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in matters of employment law and related immigration claims.
The Inspiration
Need Addressed By Project
Despite major growth in the Asian immigrant population in the D.C. area over the past decade, few local organizations are addressing their needs. The stereotype that all Asian immigrants are affluent because they own their own businesses or are highly-paid professionals is wrong. Many Asian immigrants earn low wages in the service industry and as domestic workers—nannies, cooks, maids, and home health aides. Domestic workers have historically been some of the most marginalized workers in our society, excluded from several critical labor standards and often earning sub-minimum wages. Increasingly, migrant domestic workers fall victim to human trafficking syndicates. This population needs education about their rights and culturally competent legal services to remedy their subjugation by unlawful employment practices and human trafficking.
Fellowship Highlights
During her Fellowship, Agatha:
• Provided advice and brief services to 95 clients
• Represented 35 clients in wage-and-hour matters and related immigration claims, which included preparing petitions for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, counseling human trafficking survivors, and securing immigration relief for domestic workers or their children
• Recouped more than $220,000 in back wages for domestic workers
• Created and translated know-your-rights materials and conducted workshops for low-income immigrant workers and community organizations, educating more than 1,000 individuals on employment law, labor trafficking, and immigration law
• Conducted eight know-your-rights presentations to low-wage, immigrant workers and community organizations on topics of employment law, labor trafficking, and immigration law
Where are they now?
Agatha is combating labor trafficking in the U.S. and internationally as a senior adviser at the Polaris Project, the nation’s leading anti-human trafficking organization.