Courtesy of Texas Southern University
The Texas Southern University Foundation recently announced it was awarded more than $1 million by Houston Endowment to support the establishment and operations of The Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law’s Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy, Inc. (ECI) Immigration Clinic. The clinic will focus on the expansion of assistance for applying for U.S. citizenship and navigating the naturalization process. This valuable grant will provide legal representation to individuals in local communities who need assistance in completing his or her Naturalization (“N-400”) Application throughout the year. ECI will use the grant funds to hire staff and provide legal resources to assist ECI’s Immigration Clinic clients in successfully pursuing their own pathway to U.S. citizenship.
“The Earl Carl Institute is grateful to Houston Endowment for this generous grant in supporting our immigration program,” said Sarah Guidry, Earl Carl Institute Executive Director. “This grant will allow the Institute to continue its work towards empowering marginalized and low to moderate income individuals by addressing systemic social issues through legal representation, research, education, and advocacy.”
The ECI Immigration Clinic’s primary goal for this program is to provide law students with a quality experiential legal education and to provide high-quality legal services to indigent refugees and immigrants who are seeking to adjust status to become U.S. citizens via naturalization, with oversight Professor Vy T. Nguyen who oversees the Thurgood Marshall School of Law LL.M in Immigration Law Program and the Immigration Legal Clinic will provide oversight of this program. ECI is excited to have the expertise of Attorney Nguyen. The clinic will function through the services legal staff of four under this new pro bono program.
“This grant from Houston Endowment will allow ECI to expand its work of providing pro bono legal representation to traditionally disenfranchised or underserved communities in the Greater Houston area.” said Guidry.
The Immigration Clinic will supplement ECI’s current free legal clinicals which include a Property Preservation Project, Record Clearing Project, Juvenile Justice Project, and the University’s Innocence Project. These additional clinics will, in some cases, provide non-immigration services to Immigration Clinic clients consistent with the Institute’s initiatives around providing holistic client-center representation to all clients.