Interprofessional Center

Harriet Oyera, former client at the Interprofessional Center, was interviewed for the Fall '19 edition of the St. Thomas magazine, where she speaks about her experience working with the IPC's counseling and legal services.

Faculty Fellow Rebecca Scholtz was among the team of lawyers who filed a class action against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship Services regarding a new policy that changes the rights of unaccompanied children seeking asylum.

“This policy changes the rules for these children’s cases midway through the process,” said Rebecca Scholtz, senior attorney with CLINIC and faculty fellow with UST Law. “This retroactive and unlawful policy eviscerates the protections Congress enacted for vulnerable children, and, if allowed to go forward, will cause grave harm to asylum-seeking children who face violence and persecution in their home countries.”

Watch as Professor Wiebe delves into the asylum seeking process and who is granted asylum.

Faculty Fellow Rebecca Scholtz, joined by advocates and educators from around the country,  spoke on a panel at the 2018 Immigration Law Forum: Civil Rights Behind Bars event hosted by the University of Minnesota on Saturday, November 3rd.

Sunday's Star Tribune led with a powerful story from alumna Alison Griffith '14, who found herself across the desk from an 8-year-old girl from Guatemala who was separated from her father at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Professor Virgil Wiebe facilitated a candid discussion between Minneapolis Mayor, Chief of Police, and Immigration Policy expert this past Friday. The forum explored methods and obstacles to bridge-building between local immigrant communities crippled by fear and law enforcement responsible for public safety.

What exactly is a sanctuary city? St. Thomas law school Professor Virgil Wiebe talks to Heather Brown of WCCO-TV | CBS Minnesota.

Brad Walz '04, head of our new Trademark Clinic and shareholder with Winthrop & Weinstine, suggests you conduct a trademark search before getting that new business up and running.

A shift in U.S. immigration policy to include deporting people without criminal records has resulted in a deportation order for a Minnesota naturopathic doctor who has spent the past 18 years in the state, and, according to her patients, saved lives. 

Here's a look at the program and what happens next for the nearly 800,000 people in it who are allowed to work in the U.S. and receive protection from deportation.

The parties in Dilley Pro Bono Project v. ICE have reached a settlement that ensures access to mental health evaluations for certain detained mothers and children seeking asylum. The case was filed after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) barred Caroline Perris, a full-time legal assistant with the Dilley Pro Bono Project (DPBP), from entering the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC) in Dilley, Texas.

What is the definition of an unaccompanied child (“UC”) under federal immigration law and what protections are afforded to such children? This practice advisory is intended to educate advocates on important UC protections and assist them with starting-point strategies for combating Department of Homeland Security efforts to strip vulnerable children of protections afforded to them as unaccompanied children. 

The Dilley Pro Bono Project (DPBP), a consortium of the American Immigration Council, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), filed suit to challenge a new ICE policy that arbitrarily restricts the types of legal services that DPBP may provide and interferes with the ability of DPBP staff to effectively represent their clients.

After months of speculation about how much the new government had picked up the pace of immigration arrests and deportations, new data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement offers an early glimpse. From the inauguration through mid-March, agents working out of ICE's St. Paul office, which also covers the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska, arrested more than 620 immigrants — up roughly 80 percent over the same period last year.

The Trump administration has cited Hennepin County for not cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to detain some immigrants in the country illegally who allegedly committed crimes.

But some in Minnesota law enforcement say there are limits to how they can respond to such federal requests.

The Trump administration on Monday issued the first in what will be a weekly list of jurisdictions it says have not honored federal immigration detainer requests.

Prof. Wiebe speaks to the Star Tribune about recent immigration critique from the Trump administration.

Prof. Virgil Wiebe speaks at St. Cloud State University's School of Public Affairs on March 21, 2017 from 3:30pm - 4:15pm. The topic of discussion is Immigration under the Trump administration. Professor Wiebe will also explain U.S. immigration law in the Minnesota context by using the imagery of a hotel with U.S. citizens occupying the top floor, unauthorized immigrants as living in the basement, as other types of legal status in between.

Faculty Fellow Rebecca Scholtz presents at a Minnesota State Bar Association CLE called Immigrants and Minnesota Family Law - Current Strategies in Uncertain Times on April 27.

Prof. Collett and Prof. Wiebe speak on a panel called The First Fifty Days, discussing the new administration on March 9, 2017. The panel is supported by the Institute for Catholicism & Citizenship – University of St. Thomas – Minnesota.

University of St. Thomas General Counsel and law professors formed a panel to explore the implications and legality of President Trump's executive orders on immigration.

(KMSP) - President Donald Trump significantly expanded the number of undocumented immigrants who face the possibility of deportation. The expansion was outlined in two memos released by the Department of Homeland Security.

Prof. Virgil Wiebe, Director of the Immigration Law Practice Group, speaks about the immigration executive orders on Kare11.

Samira Dahir got the call in the middle of the night: Her 4-year-old daughter, who was scheduled to leave a Ugandan refugee camp for the United States, would not be going anywhere because of an executive order President Trump had signed days before, temporarily blocking refugees from entering the United States.

The immigration clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Law prepared this week to sign on to any potential litigation involving the case of a 4-year-old girl from Somalia who was impacted by President Trump’s recent travel ban. Faculty and students from the School of Law’s immigration and religious liberty clinics, including professors Virgil Wiebe and Tom Berg, students Ted Shillingstad and Jessica Lanzi, and alumnus James Todd ’14, were conducting background research into constitutional questions related to the case when young Mushkaad Abdi was cleared for travel.

There are number of ways for people from other countries to come to the U.S. So, how do they differ? Heather Brown answers this Good Question with Professor Virgil Wiebe. WCCO 4 News At 10

Prof. Wiebe contributes to the research depicted in CBS Minnesota's news.

President-elect Donald Trump swept to the White House promising to clamp down on illegal immigration and so-called "sanctuary cities" like Minneapolis and St. Paul whose leaders vow not to act as local immigration enforcers.

Republicans around the country — including the newly empowered GOP majorities in the Minnesota Legislature — have followed suit, threatening to withhold government aid from cities that decline to work with federal immigration authorities and represent themselves as safe havens against deportation.

What are the rights of undocumented people on campus?
What is a sanctuary campus?
What is a sanctuary city? What does it mean that Minneapolis is a sanctuary city?

Jocelyn Hernandez dressed in all black on Wednesday morning as she faced an uncertain future.

An Obama administration program for young immigrants brought to the country as children allowed Hernandez, a North Hennepin Community College sociology student, to work, drive and plan for a career as a teacher. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the deportation reprieve program — part of a tougher stance on illegal immigration that he made a centerpiece of his campaign.

After his victory, Minnesota Latinos and other immigrants worry about pledges to step up deportations, build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and crack down on employers who hire unauthorized workers. The election’s outcome also dimmed hope for a state proposal to grant driver’s licenses to residents without legal status — and for national immigration reform that would open a path to citizenship.

Meanwhile, Trump’s election heartened Minnesotans who want to see tougher immigration enforcement.

Key questions remain about what a Trump administration can do and will do about immigration, said Virgil Wiebe, an immigration law expert at the University of St. Thomas.

The Minnesota 8 committed crimes and served their time via state laws.

Now, they're facing federal punishment.

Based on a 1996 immigration law, they can be deported for committing aggravated felonies even if they've served time.

St. Thomas law Professor Virgil Wiebe explained the big picture.

"The tricky thing is with the shifting definitions of what kinds of crimes will get you deported. The law that was passed in 1996 says a whole range of crimes, from very serious crimes, to what appeared to the common person to be petty crimes, are considered aggravated felonies, "Professor Wiebe added.

Prof. Wiebe, Director of the Immigration Law Practice Group, comments in the Star Tribune about private immigration detention centers.

Co-Director George Baboila tweets a photo with Prof. Wiebe as he celebrates the new UST branding with Tommie the Tomcat.

Check out St. Thomas Magazine's feature on previous IPC client Harriet Oyera, and her journey from Uganda that led her to the Interprofessional Center.