Emma Glickman '20 and fellow classmates help refugees with their asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border

Emma Glickman in front of Stanford arcade

Story pulled from Stanford News written by Melissa DeWitte

When asylum seekers arrive at the United States border, the first step upon arrival is the credible fear interview, a one-hour screening with an immigration official to establish whether there is a “significant possibility” that they suffered persecution or torture in their home country. If they fail to make a convincing case, they will be deported almost immediately.

Often asylum seekers fail the interview not because they lack a legitimate claim, but simply because they don’t know what information is legally relevant, said Penelope Van Tuyl, the associate director of Stanford’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

To help asylum seekers prepare for their interviews, Van Tuyl – along with Vivian Brates, a lecturer in Spanish at the Stanford Language Center – has taken Stanford students to the largest immigrant detention center in the United States to volunteer with the Dilley Pro Bono Project (DPBP), an organization that offers pro-bono legal services to mothers and children who have fled extreme violence in Central America and elsewhere. There, volunteers talk with asylum seekers – usually in Spanish – to learn more about the basis for their claim of eligibility for asylum in the United States.

[...]

The idea to volunteer for the Dilley Pro Bono Project (DPBP) originated from senior Emma Glickman, a human biology major. In 2017, Glickman took Vivian Brates’ Spanish service-learning course, where students partner with adults at a civic center in Redwood City to learn about the immigrant experience while preparing them for the U.S. citizenship exam in Spanish.

When Glickman learned about the DPBP and their need for Spanish-speaking volunteers, she approached Brates about going to help. “I realized that this was a perfect match for our students to develop both their advanced Spanish language and citizenship skills,” Brates said.

Brates set out looking for ways to integrate this experience into future classes and found an eager collaborator in Penelope Van Tuyl.

This class was made possible with support from the Stanford Language Center, the Stanford Global Studies Division, the Haas Center for Public Service, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Associate Dean for Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in H&S and the Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

 

Read the full article in Stanford News here.