Lawyers Mobilize Against Trump’s Immigration Ban – What Solos & Smalls Can Do

At airports across the country, thousands of lawyers have mobilized to represent immigrants who may, or have been detained as a result of Trump’s Executive Order  (January 27, 2017) . For those not closely following the details, the EO indefinitely bars Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocks citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, refugees or otherwise, from entering the United States for 90 days: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  In addition to defending immigrants and advising them on their rights, lawyers are also challenging the constitutionality of the ban, with some success so far.

Many solos and smalls have asked how they might support the effort – so here are some resources:

#HelptheLawyers – Twitter hashtag tweeting out the needs of the different lawyer teams – and here’s a Google Spreadsheet summarizing some of the supplies so far.

You can track the status of Executive Orders here at one of the organizers, Mirriam Seddiq at Not Guilty No Way .

Other resources on substantive immigration law to be sufficiently conversant to be able to take on a delegated task or make a referral are available at Sound Immigration  and Immigration Legal Resource Center.

Also, huge shoutout to Fastcase for recirculating information on its free research apps and to Ravel for making its research tools available at no charge to those lawyers supporting the immigration effort. Alas, no response from the WEXIS duopoly.

Finally – if you feel that you ought to be protesting or offering pro bono services, don’t fret. The next four years are a marathon, not a war and there will be need for replacement troops. Besides, there’s work to be done on all fronts (I’ve spent the past week doing gas pipeline triage). In the meantime, you can donate to some of the organizations fighting the bans, or send food and office supplies over to the airport lawyers.