Rachel Sheridan

The Project

Immigrant women and children survivors of crime have unique vulnerabilities and are particularly at risk in Northern California. Extreme poverty, language barriers, cultural pressures to honor the family by concealing violence and submitting to her husband’s will, lack of legal status, fear of deportation, unfamiliarity with the law, lack of safe, affordable housing, and unique legal barriers to justice cause immigrant survivors of crime in the region to have heightened vulnerability. 

Rachel helped address this gap in access to justice by working with Tahirih Justice Center to provide immigrant survivors of crime with increased access to no-cost culturally competent, linguistically accessible legal services spanning screening, brief advice and representation in immigration law, as well as referrals for other critical services, and victim’s rights advocacy. 

To that end, Rachel’s work focused on providing culturally competent, trauma-informed free legal services to immigrant survivors of crime seeking immigration relief in civil, immigration, and administrative proceedings. Rachel also conducted outreach and training to communities, pro bono attorneys, and community stakeholders to improve long-term community capacity to address the needs of immigrant survivors of crime.