Lauren DesRosiers

Hosted by New York City Anti-Violence Project
Sponsored by Bloomberg LP, Proskauer Rose LLP
Service location New York, New York
Law school The University of Michigan Law School
Issue area LGBTQ+ Rights
Fellowship class year 2018
Program Design Your Own Fellowship

The Project

Lauren serves undocumented LGBTQ survivors of hate violence in New York City by improving access to holistic legal services to combat alienation from legal systems.

Incidents of hate violence against LGBTQ communities have dramatically increased over the past several years and are coterminous with increased violence against immigrants. In particular, undocumented LGBTQ survivors of hate violence live at a critical nexus of underserved communities and are at a high risk of estrangement from legal systems. This further marginalizes LGBTQ immigrants, thereby exacerbating the effects of violence. Lauren’s project increases access to holistic legal services through outreach and direct representation to combat the effects of violence experienced by undocumented LGBTQ hate violence survivors.

Fellowship Highlights

In the past year, Lauren has:

Trained 50 pro bono attorneys on working with LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence;
Counseled 100 LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence in immigration and related matters;
Conducted outreach through community partners to provide information on rights surrounding immigration to community members; and
Developed materials on best practices for working with LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence.

Next Steps

In the next year, Lauren plans to:

Train immigration attorneys and community and pro bono partners on best practices for working with LGBTQ immigrant survivors of violence;
Work with community partner organizations to provide Know-Your-Rights trainings for LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence; and
Continue representing LGBTQ survivors of hate violence in immigration and other proceedings.