Inaugural Border Justice Fellows Bring Excellent Success
July 27, 2024
In the Fall of 2022, the UNM School of Law launched its Border Justice Initiative Fellowship Program. As the program’s inaugural fellows – Jorge Rodriguez and Ari Banks – complete their fellowships and prepare to transition their work to their successors, we reflect on and celebrate their many accomplishments.
Jorge Rodriguez, iMagis Fellow
During his fellowship, Jorge Rodriguez (’22) has worked at two nonprofit organizations serving immigrants at the border. At Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, he handled a wide range of cases from asylum and removal defense to Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) cases and Visa Petitions. At Estrella Del Paso he directly served clients in the Removal Unit and was successful in preventing the removal of many clients who had legal pathways to permanent residence or citizenship. Jorge describes his work as “protecting the safety and dignity of immigrants as they work together towards family reunification.”
Jorge said that his time in the fellowship helped him realize “we should focus on the fact that these are just individuals who need help. . . . The way we treat individuals in need reflects a lot about who we are as individuals.” As he nears the end of his fellowship, Jorge recognizes the unique experience provided by the UNM School of Law and the Border Justice initiative; “The UNM School of Law is providing excellent opportunities for individuals in need to work with attorneys.” As a direct result of his fellowship opportunity, Jorge has accepted a position with Estrella Del Paso in the Unaccompanied Minors Unit, and will begin working there after the end of his fellowship in September, 2024.
Ari Burks, Medical Legal Fellow
Ari Burks (’22) served in Albuquerque, interviewing clients, securing Cuban Adjustment, co-counseling with Jorge, as well as supervising and co-teaching In the UNM School of Law’s Border Justice Initiative and Clinic. During her time as a fellow, Ari has provided full-scale representation for over thirty clients in cases including removal defense, family-based immigration, and humanitarian forms of relief. Ari said of her experience, “it has been a valuable opportunity working with immigrants in our community. My caseload has included representation for individuals and families from over ten countries and innumerable backgrounds. I have also valued the opportunity to continue working with law students and sharing my knowledge with them as I, myself, continue to learn in this ever-changing legal field.”
Following the end of her fellowship in September 2024, Ari plans to continue working with immigrants in the community and defend their rights through the legal process.
Due to the success of these inaugural fellows, the Border Justice Initiative began another fellowship in the fall of 2023. Mark Moreno, the third fellow in the program, has spent the past year working at the Santa Fe Dreamers Project where he works on a variety of cases and recently won a big victory by winning a Convention Against Torture (CAT) claim case for a detained immigrant client. Without Mark’s assistance, she would have been wrongfully returned to a country where she faced the likelihood of torture and even death.
The Border Justice Initiative at UNM School of Law
The Border Justice Initiative was created in 2019 through a coordinated effort between the UNM School of Law and the iMagis Foundation in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the border. That crisis has only continued to escalate. The Initiative provides hands-on, real-time, service-learning opportunities through classes and externships for UNM law students interested in immigration law, with a goal of ensuring the legal system’s just treatment of immigrants at our southern border, particularly for children and families. Additionally, the Initiative creates a border justice pipeline from school to professional service at the border and beyond.
