Asylum and Human Rights Clinic

The Asylum and Human Rights Clinic represents clients who have fled persecution or torture in their home countries and seek refuge in the United States. Its clients include people from all parts of the world who face persecution because of their political opinion, religion, race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or family ties. Students handle every aspect of representation in cases that determine whether a client will be granted asylum or face deportation. Since its founding in 2002, the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic has handled 155 asylum cases to completion. In 145 of those cases, the clinic’s clients, and in many cases additional members of their families, were granted asylum or other forms of relief from removal, enabling them to build new lives in safety and freedom.

Information for the Public

Most clinic clients are referred by organizations that assist refugees and immigrants, social service agencies, or other attorneys.

Contact
legalclinic@uconn.edu
(860) 570-5165

Students in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic interview and counsel clients seeking asylum in the United States. Their work helped Franklin René Ruano Galdamez escape the gang in El Salvador that kidnapped him, beat him and threatened to kill him.

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Student Experience

Students in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic advocate on behalf of clients seeking asylum in the United States. Students ​extensively interview their clients to learn their stories and prepare them for their hearings, investigate the facts supporting their claims, research human rights conditions in the clients' home countries, ​collaborate with expert witnesses, prepare supporting documentation and briefs in support of asylum applications and represent their clients at hearings before federal immigration judges and asylum officers.

Jon Bauer
Clinical Professor of Law and Richard D. Tulisano '69 Scholar in Human Rights
jon.bauer@uconn.edu
(860) 570-5205

Valeria Gomez
William R. Davis Clinical Teaching Fellow
valeria.gomez@uconn.edu
(860) 570-5460

Asylum and Human Rights Clinic Faculty