Matthew Bedrick

Hosted by National Center for Youth Law
Sponsored by Cooley LLP
Service location Oakland, California
Law school University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Issue area Education/Special Education, Immigrant Populations
Fellowship class year 2019
Program Design-Your-Own Fellowship

The Project

Matt advocated to ensure that detained and recently released unaccompanied immigrant children receive the education services to which they are entitled through developing new litigation, supporting class action lawsuits, policy advocacy, collaborating with local organizations, and creating informative resources.

As of June 2021, there were over 17,000 unaccompanied children (“UCs”) in federal immigrant detention. These children are entitled to education services under federal law, state law, and the Flores Settlement Agreement. Tragically, federal and state governments frequently fail to provide the required services, particularly special education, which leaves UCs ill-equipped for public schools when they are released to their families in the U.S. Furthermore, some public schools create enrollment obstacles for released children, fail to provide them with required services, or push them into alternative education programs.

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship, Matt has:

Developed potential new litigation to enforce the education rights of UCs with disabilities in more restrictive Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”) facilities
Wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education urging it to issue new guidance that States and Local Education Agencies must comply with federal special education laws as applied to UCs with qualifying disabilities in their jurisdictions
Conducted two Flores monitoring visits to ORR facilities and six trauma-informed interviews with UCs to learn about their experiences, obtain key evidence, and amplify their stories in ongoing advocacy;
Wrote a memorandum on the ability to use materials from earlier lawsuits in the Lucas R. v. Azar case, which helped to inform strategic litigation decisions
Provided brief services and referrals to 15 individuals who had youth law issues, including issues related to disability accommodations in schools
In total, Matt and his team’s work potentially benefited over 70,000 immigrant children