Immigration Liberation Project

The UC Berkeley Criminal Law & Justice Center’s Immigration Liberation Project provides legal representation to immigrants in federal detention, helping them secure relief through habeas proceedings. This project launched in Fall 2025, and the practicum and seminar has been successful. The project will continue in Fall 2026 as the Immigration Liberation Project: Representation in Detention Proceedings Practicum.

The Immigration Liberation Practicum gives students hands-on experience with federal litigation and provides real-world application of legal concepts through client representation, case management, evidence collection, and persuasive legal writing. CLJC works in collaboration with immigrant rights advocates across the country to conduct outreach, strategize, and meet the needs of the immigrant community. The project also tracks outcomes to measure impact, identifies systemic issues for potential litigation, and collects research for scholarly publication, combining direct legal services with educational opportunities to advance immigration justice.

During the 2025-2026 academic year, 10 law students enrolled in the seminar. The project was also supported by a full-time Larsen Justice Fellow and three undergraduate student interns.In order to meet the needs of our clients and the community, we also expanded our legal services to include representation at immigration bond hearings and court-appointed representation of pro se habeas petitioners. In its first year, ILP won habeas relief in seven cases, obtained temporary restraining orders and injunctive relief in three cases, represented at two bond hearings, prevented the re-detention of one client, and secured the release of four other individuals. 

We also worked with an interdisciplinary team at the Global Rights Innovation Lab Clinic (GRIL) to analyze hundreds of thousands of Board of Immigration Appeals data to evaluate BIA appeal processing times, outcomes, and other more. CLJC and GRIL co-authored a report of our data analysis which we are preparing  to publish publicly in the Summer of 2026.