Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic

USF School of Law / Professional Skills / Law Clinics / Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic

The Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic represents unaccompanied immigrant children and families who are in removal proceedings in San Francisco. The majority of clients are seeking asylum and come from Central America and Mexico.

Under the supervision of the director and supervising attorney, students represent clients in various phases of immigration proceedings, beginning with interviewing clients, preparing declarations, and gathering supporting evidence. Some students also help minors in state probate and family law courts seek guardianships to qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Through their work, students learn how to be ethical and successful immigration attorneys in a nonprofit setting.
 

The clinic has over 500 active cases. Its clients come from all over Northern California and the Central Valley. Beyond the supervising attorney and director, the clinic also employs two staff attorneys, three paralegals, a legal fellow, and a social services coordinator. The clinic works with people who have escaped extreme violence and trauma. The clients' bravery and strength inspire clinic staff and students alike. In addition to case work, students have the opportunity to participate in clinic-organized events, such as Know Your Rights presentations in the Central Valley, and migrant-assistance trips to immigration detention facilities and the border.

Partners

The clinic collaborates with dozens of other immigrant service providers in San Francisco, Sonoma, and San Mateo counties. The Clinic receives major funding from the City and County of San Francisco, the California Department of Social Services, the Sonoma County Secure Families Collaborative, San Mateo County, and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

Our Stories

Faculty


Bill Ong Hing

Program Director, Full-Time Faculty
(415) 422-4475

Throughout his career, Professor Bill Ong Hing pursued social justice through a combination of community work, litigation, and scholarship. He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented publications on immigration policy and race relations, including American Presidents, Deportation and Human Rights Violations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2019); Ethical Borders—NAFTA, Globalization, and Mexican Migration (Temple University Press, 2010), Deporting Our Souls–Morality, Values, and...

Education:

JD, University of San Francisco, AB, UC Berkeley

Expertise:

Asian American Legal History, Immigration Law and Policy, Migration Theory, Public Interest Lawyering, Race, Racism and U.S Law, Racial Justice, Affirmative Action and Diversity, Rules of Evidence, Modern Policing

Jacqueline Brown Scott

Full-Time Faculty
(415) 422-3330

Jacqueline Brown Scott is an immigration attorney with experience solving a wide array of immigration issues pertaining to asylum, deportation defense, and family-based immigration. Jacqueline began her career in immigration law at the San Francisco Immigration Court as an attorney advisor through the Department of Justice Honors Program. There, she wrote hundreds of orders and written decisions for the Immigration Judges. When working at her firm, Law Office of Jacqueline Brown Scott, she...

Education:

JD, University of San Francisco, MA, San Francisco State University, BS, Saint Lawrence University