The Immigrant Justice Lab (IJL) is collaborative public humanities project that produces a wide range of scholarly artifacts for and with community partners working in immigrant advocacy in Michigan. In response to needs identified by partners, the IJL trains and supervises interdisciplinary teams of students to create materials for use in immigrant advocacy and defense (briefs and reports, translations, or research repositories on social conditions in countries of origin), develop pedagogical materials, and much more.
We accomplish this work through integration with courses, independent studies, paid internships, and volunteer opportunities. The mission of these projects is 1) to provide the best possible academic work to our community partners, 2) to create meaningful opportunities for undergraduate and professional students from diverse backgrounds to learn academic skills through projects that address pressing social issues; 3) and to support graduate students to gain experience in designing and implementing publicly engaged scholarly projects, and 4) to make our work accessible to a wider public, including colleagues eager to establish similar labs on their campuses and legal practitioners nationwide.
Our lead partner is the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), a non-profit organization with four offices in the state and a caseload of more than 1200 clients, MIRC provides pro bono legal services to individual clients in naturalization and citizenship matters. MIRC also engages in advocacy, education, and impact litigation on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, refugees, unaccompanied minors, and farmworkers.
Guides to Defending Yourself in Immigration Court
Guías para Defenderse en la Corte de Inmigración
Have you or someone you know been detained by immigration officials? Have you or someone you know been given a notice to appear in immigration court? It is very important to get a lawyer to help you with your case. However, there are many people who cannot afford a lawyer or cannot find a lawyer who will help them at no cost. If you find yourself in this situation, these guides, written by a team of experienced lawyers, will help you to defend yourself in immigration court.
¿Ha sido usted, o algún conocido suyo, detenido por los oficiales de inmigración? ¿Ha recibido usted, o algún conocido suyo, un aviso diciendo que tiene que presentarse en la corte de inmigración? Es muy importante buscar un abogado para ayudar con su caso. Sin embargo, hay mucha gente que no tiene recursos para pagar un abogado y que no puede encontrar un abogado de los que ayudan a la gente necesitada sin pago. Si usted o algún conocido se encuentra en esta situación, estas guías, escritas por un equipo de abogados con mucha experiencia, lo ayudarán o la ayudarán a defenderse en la corte de emigración.
A. Immigration Bonds / A. Fianzas de Inmigración
This guide explains how to ask for release from detention through an immigration bond.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar la liberación de la detención a través de una fianza de inmigración.
Last updated: 4/2022
Printable Version 11×17 PDF
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Español • Instrucciones de plegado
B. Asylum, Withholding of Removal & Convention Against Torture / B. Asilo, Retención deRemoción y Convención Contra la Tortura
This guide explains how to apply for protection from deportation if you are afraid to return to your home country.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar una protección contra la deportación si usted tiene temor de regresar a su país de origen.
Last updated: 4/2022
Printable Version 11×17 PDF
English • Folding Instructions
Versión imprimible 11×17 PDF
Español • Instrucciones de plegado
C. Voluntary Departure & Removal / C. Remoción y Salida Voluntaria
This guide explains how to ask for “voluntary departure” if you are not eligible for a defense against deportation or you decide to return to your home country.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar la “salida voluntaria” si usted no es elegible para una defensa contra la deportación o si usted decide regresar a su país de origen.
Last updated: 4/2022
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Versión imprimible 11×17 PDF
Español • Instrucciones de plegado
D. LPR Cancellation of Removal / D. Cancelación de Remoción para Residente Legal Permanente (“LPR”)
This guide explains how to apply to “cancel” your deportation if you are a lawful permanent resident who is in deportation proceedings after being charged with a criminal offense or immigration violation.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar “cancelar” su deportación si usted es un residente legal permanente que está cursando un procedimiento de deportación tras haber sido acusado de delitos penales o de violación de las leyes inmigratorias.
Last updated: 4/2022
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English • Folding Instructions
Versión imprimible 11×17 PDF
Español • Instrucciones de plegado
E. 10-Year Cancellation of Removal / E. Cancelación de Remoción – 10 años
This guide explains how to apply to “cancel” your deportation if you have lived in the U.S. for the past 10 years with “good moral character” and if you have a qualifying family member who will suffer extremely unusual hardship if you are deported.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar “cancelar” su deportación si usted ha vivido en los Estados Unidos durante los últimos 10 años y es una persona de “buen carácter moral” y si tiene un familiar calificado que puede sufrir dificultades excepcionales y extremadamente inusuales si usted es deportado.
Last updated: 4/2022
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Español • Instrucciones de plegado
F. Appeals / F. Apelaciones
This guide explains how to ask for a different result if you lose your case in Immigration Court. It also explains how to respond if you win your case but the government files an appeal.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar un resultado diferente si usted perdió su caso en la Corte de Inmigración. También explica cómo responder si gana su caso pero el gobierno apela.
Last updated: 4/2022
Printable Version 11×17 PDF
English • Folding Instructions
Versión imprimible 11×17 PDF
Español • Instrucciones de plegado
Frequently Asked Questions: Immigration Court / Preguntas Frecuentes: La Corte de Inmigración
This guide explains an overview of how to prepare and what to expect in court.
Esta guía explica cómo solicitar la liberación de la detención a través de una fianza de inmigración.
Last updated: 4/2022
Printable Version 11×17 PDF
English • Folding Instructions
Versión imprimible 11×17 PDF
Español • Instrucciones de plegado
For examples of forms, documents, and motions you will need to submit:
Para tener ejemplos de formularios, documentos y mociones que usted necesitará presentar:
Visit/visite bit.ly/mirc-resources
If you need help / Si necesitas ayuda
For legal advice, contact Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) at (734) 239-6863 or mirc@michiganimmigrant.org
Para asesoría legal, contáctese con el Centro de Derechos del Inmigrante de Michigan (MIRC), por sus siglas en inglés) al (734) 239-6863 o mirc@michiganimmigrant.org
If you are detained in Michigan, you have a right to call the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center confidential detention line for free. Ask a jail official for instructions.
Si usted está detenido/a en Michigan, tiene el derecho de llamar al teléfono confidencial por asuntos de detención del Centro de Derechos del Inmigrante de Michigan gratuitamente. Pídale instrucciones a un oficial de la cárcel.
Do not sign anything you do not understand. If you have questions, call MIRC.
No firme nada queno entienda. Si tiene preguntas, llame al MIRC.
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) is a legal resource center for Michigan’s immigrant communities.
El Centro de Derechos del Inmigrante de Michigan (MIRC) (Michigan Immigrant Rights Center) es un centro de recursos legales para las comunidades inmigrantes de Michigan.
Visit / Visite michiganimmigrant.org
If you have questions about this guide or the Immigrant Justice Lab, contact info@immigrantjusticelab.org.
Si usted tiene preguntas acerca de esta guía o del Immigrant Justice Lab, contáctese con info@immigrantjusticelab.org.
Your feedback is important to us.
We invite you to share how you have used these guides and what might make them more helpful.
Su opinión nos interesa mucho.
Por favor, cuéntenos cómo ha utilizado estas guías y qué podemos hacer para que sean más útiles.
Project Team
Jessica Lefort
Jessica Lefort is clinical assistant professor in the Legal Practice Program at the University of Michigan Law School and the Director of the Immigrant Justice Lab. Prior to joining the Law School, she was a deputy defender with the Federal Defender Office in Detroit, representing indigent criminal defendants in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Melissa Borja
Melissa Borja is Assistant Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan, where she is a core faculty member in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies. She is a historian of migration, religion, race, and politics. An avid public scholar, Dr. Borja aims to improve public understanding of refugees through her work as an advisor to the Religion and Forced Migration Initiative at Princeton University and the Vietnamese Boat People project.
Amy Sankaran
Professor Amy Sankaran, ’01, became director of externship and pro bono programs in 2011. In her externship capacity, Sankaran serves as the externship faculty supervisor for full-time externship placements, including South Africa and India. In fall 2011, she launched Michigan Law’s part-time externship program for students working in local government, nonprofit, or judicial placements. Sankaran is a member of the Michigan Bar and its Justice Initiatives Committee.
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof is the author of A Tale of Two Cities: Santo Domingo and New York After 1950 (Princeton University Press, 2008) and Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean (Princeton University Press, 2019). He is the recipient, in AY 2020-2021, of a Scholars and Society Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies to further develop the Immigrant Justice Lab’s research collaboration with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
Alexander Stephens
Alexander Stephens is a doctoral candidate in History. His research and teaching interests are focused on migration, race, and criminalization in the United States and Caribbean. His dissertation follows the lives of Cubans who migrated to the U.S. in 1980 and examines their encounters with police and prisons. His print and audio work has been featured by CityLab, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and North Carolina Public Radio.
Melissa Almonte
Melissa Almonte is a law student at the University of Michigan with an interest in criminal and deportation defense. Prior to law school, Melissa was a paralegal in the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) at Brooklyn Defender Services, a first-in-the-nation program that provides universal representation to immigrants facing deportation. As a first-generation American, Melissa is proud to be part of a team that does such important work to ensure that immigrants get access to needed resources and knowledge.
Ashley Moon
Ashley Moon is a designer and researcher motivated to make civic life more accessible, equitable, and meaningful for all people. With the team, Ashley integrates design to transform and visualize complex legal information into user-friendly pro se resources. She also embeds co-creation—involving legal service providers, immigrants, and advocates in the design process. Ashley is a graduate of the Master of Integrative Design (MDes) program at the University of Michigan – Stamps School of Art & Design.
Grace Argo
Grace Argo is a PhD Candidate in History and Women’s Studies. Grace’s research explores sexual abuse and the family, law, medicine, and social work from an historical perspective.