"Child Refugee Representation and Legal Reform," with Andrew Morton.
On Tuesday April 11th at 12:20 pm in HH 138, SNARL will present "Child Refugee Representation and Legal Reform," with Andrew Morton. Morton is an associate at Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC and was named DC Bar's Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2002. Mr. Morton has been instrumental in a Latham's "Child Refugee Project," advocating alien child custody reform legislation in Congress and providing pro bono legal representation to dozens of unaccompanied alien juveniles detained by DHS. A frequent speaker on immigration reform and child refugees, Morton has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and appears regularly in the media as an authority on these issues. Morton also serves as Pro Bono Counsel to both the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and to FilmAid International.

Morton will speak during lunch on current efforts to reform refugee law, as well as on his experience representing child refugees. This event is cosponsored by American Constitutional Society (ACS).

In the afternoon, Morton will join us for a chat and coffee to address the issue of how to stay involved in the public interest while working a law firm. This event will take place from 4-5 at Amer's in the Union. This event is cosponsored by OPIS.

Inside the World of an Aylum Officer: A Discussion with an Asylum Officer
On Thursday April 13th at 12:20 pm in HH 116, SNARL is excited to welcome Elizabeth Mura, Supervisory Asylum Officer with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - Chicago Branch. For the first time in years, a representative of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Offices will speak to SNARL about her experiences as an asylum officer and the pressures the job brings. Ms. Mura is a Supervisory Asylum Officer for the Chicago Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and has been with the Asylum Office since 2002. She has a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Cincinnati and a Juris Doctor from American University, Washington College of Law.

Pursing Refugee Work in South Africa.
On Tuesday, February 7th, Kat Duffy spoke about her fall externship in South Africa. Kat Duffy, a 3L and one of SNARL's co-chairs, worked last semester at the University of Cape Town's Refugee Rights Clinic in Cape Town. She spoke about her work in direct serve to asylum seekers in South Africa and U-M Law's externship opportunities in South Africa.

Summer Job Talk
On Monday, January 30th, SNARL hosted a summer job panel to help 1Ls and 2Ls brainstorm ideas for possible summer jobs in refugee law. The panel consisted of current SNARL members with experience in refugee and asylum law. Panel members included the following U-M Law students: Angie Graves (2L), Archdiocese of Detroit, Community Immigration Legal Services, Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance Project, Inc.; Alla Karagodin (2L), DOJ, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Immigration Court, Chicago, IL; Heidi Manschreck (3L), pro bono asylum work at White & Case in New York and Freedom House of Detroit; and Martina Pomeroy (2L), Lutheran Committee for Human Rights.

On-going work of the Pro Bono Committee
SNARL’s Pro Bono Committee has had a busy year, and a number of students have been involved in its many on-going activities, all of which are connected with the Freedom House of Detroit. Projects this year include assisting in the creation of an asylum handbook for the Sixth Circuit, country conditions research & brief-writing for upcoming cases, and on-site volunteer work at Freedom House. Students interested in participating in these activities should contact the pro bono chairs, Alla Karagodin and Abby Rubinson.

A Talk by an Australian Magistrate
On Friday, November 11th, SNARL welcomed Federal Magistrate Kenneth Raphael of the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia. Judge Raphael presented a lecture entitled, "Judging the gatekeepers: judicial review of asylum decisions in Australia.” This event was co-sponsored by SNARL and Michigan Law’s Program in Refugee and Asylum Law.

Screening of PBS's "Breaking Free: A Woman's Journey," a story featuring Rodi Alvarado
On Wednesday, November 2nd at 5 pm in Room 150 HH, SNARL will screen Part Four of PBS's series entitled, "Destination America." This episode tells the story of women who have left their home countries for a number of reasons to come to America. Featured is Rodi Alvarado, a victim of domestic abuse in Guatemala who is currently applying for asylum in the United States. Her case is at the heart of the debate on gender issues in US asylum law. Please join us to watch this documentary. Light snacks will be provided.

Learn more about this episode of Destination America here.

A Talk with Brandt Goldstein, author of "Storming the Court"
On Thursday, October 13th, SNARL hosted Brandt Goldstein, who recently wrote the legal thriller, "Storming the Court." It's a narrative account of the litigation filed by Harold Koh and the Lowenstein Clinic to free a group of innocent Haitian refugees held by the U.S. government on Guantanamo in the early 1990s.

Goldstein is an attorney and writer whose articles have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and elsewhere. A 1992 graduate of Yale Law School, he served as a law clerk to Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then practiced at two private firms in Washington. A co-founder of the online legal commentary journal Writ and formerly a research associate at Yale Law School, Brandt is a member of the D.C. Bar.

Goldstein's talk included an excerpt from the book and a discussion about his experiences following Haitian refugees.

SNARL 2005-06 School Year Kick Off!
On Monday, September 26th, students interested in learning about SNARL came together for lunch to discuss SNARL events for the upcoming school year. SNARL execs spoke about initial plans to get the year started, and representatives from SNARL committees (Curriculum, Legislative Affairs and Pro Bono) discussed ways for students to get involved.

Karen Musalo
On Thursday, September 15th, SNARL hosted Karen Musalo, Resident Scholar at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and Director of The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS). Musalo has litigated many of the recent leading asylum decisions, including Matter of Kasinga (establishing that a successful claim to asylum may be based upon fear of female genital cutting). She is currently counsel in Matter of R-A-, a landmark case involving asylum protection for victims of domestic violence. She has won numerous awards and recognitions, including the 1997 Immigrant Legal Resource Center's Philip Burton Immigration and Civil Rights Award for Outstanding Lawyering and the 1998 New York Central American Refugee Center's Annual Award for dedication to the struggle for human rights and in defense of immigrants. She is lead co-author of "Refugee Law and Policy: A Comparative and International Approach."

Attendees were asked and encouraged to review the following links prior to Musalo's talk: PDF one , PDF two , and PDF three.

Learn more about Musalo and her work at the following links: Musalo's bio, The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and Background material on Matter of R-A- and CGRS's Gender Asylum Campaign.

SNARL EVENTS, ACADEMIC YEAR 2004-05 ------------------------------

A Talk on Sudan with Donald Steinberg
On March 29th, SNARL teamed up with the Muslim Law Students Association and University of Michigan STAND to present a talk by Donald Steinberg, Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace. Steinberg is the former Director of the Joint Policy Department in the Department of State and former Ambassador to Angola. Steinberg's talk, "The Crisis in Sudan," followed his recent visit to Sudan and focused primarily on women's issues, the peace process and the conflict in Darfur.
See article in the Michigan Daily.

Refugee Warehousing with Gregory Chen
On March 21st SNARL presented a lecture and discussion with Gregory Chen (bio), Director of Policy Analysis and Research at the US Committee for Refugees. Chen delivered a talk on Refugee Warehousing, which is the seemingly permanent condition of life in refugee camps experienced by more than 7 million refugees worldwide. Following the lecture and question/answer period, Chen met with SNARL members over coffee to talk about careers and advocacy in refugee law. Learn more here.

Tabling for Darfur
SNARL members organized to bring greater awareness within the Law School to the crisis in Darfur, where over 800,000 people have been forced from their homes. SNARL members gathered over 500 signatures from U-M Law students for letters to be sent to Michigan's Senators Levin and Stabenow in support of the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005. Darfur is the most recent crisis in the string of nightmares in the Sudan, where over 5 million people (1 in 8 Sudanese) have been forced from their homes and 2 million people have been killed. More information about the crisis in Darfur can be found here.

2005 Simulated Refugee Relief Operation
On Saturday, March 12th, 30 SNARL members participated in the 2nd biannual simulation of a refugee crisis facilitated by Sheila Reen of Interworks, a Madison, WI-based organization that runs crisis simulation events for international relief organizations around the world. The first two floors of Hutchins Hall were converted into the fictitious country of Suremia, as participants spent an entire day coping with the challenges of a refugee crisis. Participants were assigned roles that included food or vaccine distributors, rights protections officers, black-market operators, media representatives, Western policy makers and refugees. Though participants had assigned roles, the event took on a life of its own as unexpected crises emerged. Would the Premiere of Suremia take a bribe to send refugees in his protection back to their home country, under the theory that these refugees were merely "deserters" of their home army? How would service providers stop the spread of disease when funding for vaccines was short? How would the UNHCR deliver much needed food when its boats had been redirected to cope with another crisis half-way around the world? All of these questions kept participants busy, exposing them to a sample of the challenges faced in real humanitarian crises.
See article in the University of Michigan Law School's Res Gestae.
See the University of Michigan Law School press release.

Viewing of "Hotel Rwanda"
On February 3rd, SNARL members went to Michigan Theatre to see a special screening of Hotel Rwanda. The film presents the story of one man's efforts to protect the lives of both his family and strangers. While the rest of the world ignored the Rwandan genocide, over 800,000 people were killed. A portion of the benefits of the screening went to Tsunami victims.

Screeing of "Well-Founded Fear"
On January 27th, SNARL presented the PBS documentary, "Well-Founded Fear." The documentary offered a rare inside look at the US asylum process from the point of view of US asylum officers. A follow-up learning tool based on this documentary is available from PBS. The documentary is available for check-out from the Ann Arbor Public Library.

Panel on Refugee Issues in the 2nd Bush II Administration
On November 30th, SNARL presented "President George W. Bush's Second Term: What Will Be the Impact on Asylum and Refugee Law?" This panel brought together three experts on asylum and refugee law: Bridgette Carr (bio), U-M Law alum and clinical professor who runs Ave Maria College of Law's asylum law clinic; Brad Maze works in the legal department at Detroit's Freedom House; and Larissa Wakim, U-M Law alum and currently a visiting research scholar at U-M Law.

Run for Freedom 5K
On Saturday, October 30th, several SNARLers participated in the Run for Freedom 5K to benefit Freedom House, a Detroit-based nonprofit serving persons fleeing persecution in their home countries. In addition to running/walking with persons seeking asylum in the United States, SNARLers had the opportunity to interact with many of the Freedom House residents and staff at the post-race party, which had music and an awards ceremony.

SNARL Fall Kick Off
On September 27th, SNARL hosted a pizza lunch to kick off the year in style. The lunch, held in the Hutchins court yard, gathered over 60 students. The SNARL leadership lead a brainstorming session for the upcoming year and gauged student interest in a refugee simulation and potential speakers.