IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS PROJECT

Laura E. Varela, Director

Ruth Spivack, Outreach Coordinator


Discrimination Against Immigrants

The Washington Lawyers’ Committee’s Immigrant and Refugee Rights (IRR) Project, established in 1978, seeks to enforce the rights of immigrants who are victims of discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, disability, age religion, sexual orientation, and other bases prohibited under federal and local laws. In its long history the IRR Project has advocated on behalf of hundreds of immigrants who were victims of discrimination in housing and employment matters or who were denied access to government services.

Are you a victim of national origin discrimination?

The IRR Project and the volunteer lawyers who co-counsel our cases have won and continue to litigate lawsuits against government entities and private entities throughout the DC metropolitan area.

Day Laborers and Immigrant Workers

Know Your Wage & Hour Rights!
(Para una descripción en español, por favor consulte la página web de Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados.)

In addition to handling cases involving discrimination against immigrants, the IRR Project also represents immigrants who are victims of wage abuse. The IRR Project launched the Day Laborer Initiative in August 2006 in coordination with the Committee’s Equal Employment Project to help ensure the enforcement of federal and local wage and hour laws in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This Initiative was developed in response to increasing reports of area employers’ exploitation of day laborers who, due to language barriers, immigration status, and other obstacles, frequently lack knowledge of their rights and access to the systems designed to protect them. Through the pursuit of all available remedies under relevant wage and hour laws and the mobilization of the pro bono legal community, the Initiative aims not only to vindicate the rights of individuals but also to create a significant deterrent to employers’ exploitation of one of the area’s most vulnerable populations. In addition to litigating cases, the Day Laborer Initiative is collaborating with other local organizations and community groups to assist in the establishment of formal day laborer centers and to ensure language access to government agencies.

If you live in Maryland, Washington, D.C., or Virginia and believe that you have not received proper payment for the time you have worked, please call the EEO Project intake number and leave a message for our Intake Assistant at 202-319-1000 x 224. Si cree que no ha recibido el pago adecuado por las horas que ha trabajado, por favor, llame nuestro número y deje un mensaje a 202-319-1000 x 224.

Asylum

Since its formation in l978 by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project has deployed the talents of several thousand volunteer attorneys to protect the basic legal rights of immigrants and refugees throughout the metropolitan region. The IRR Project provides pro bono legal representation to individuals seeking asylum in the United States. These individuals would face persecution by repressive regimes in their countries should they be forced to return. The IRR Project also promotes fair and equitable immigration laws and standards through policy advocacy and comments on proposed laws.

In its long history, the IRR Project and its volunteer attorneys have provided pro bono representation for thousands of meritorious asylum cases selected on the basis of legal precedent and financial need. Today the Project administers an active docket of more than 25 political asylum cases and provides intake services to more than 100 individuals annually. Many of the IRR Project's asylum cases have had significant value as legal precedents, leading to basic reforms and policy changes. The Project also provides assistance to attorneys and individual asylees with post-asylum issues.

If you need representation in an asylum matter, or if you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your national origin, ethnicity, or immigration status, please complete the intake questionnaire online or print the questionnaire, complete it, and mail it to: Washington Lawyers' Committee, 11 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036, Attn: Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. Or, e-mail your questions to the IRR Project at Immigrant@washlaw.org or call 202-319-1000 ext. 120.

Volunteer attorneys are needed to represent individuals with meritorious political asylum cases, workshops, to represent newcomers who have suffered housing or employment discrimination and to work on other projects such as comments on Department of Homeland Security regulations and advocacy on issues affecting newcomers. See Frequently Asked Questions about representing political asylum applicants. If you are interested in volunteering for the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, please e-mail the IRR Project at Immigrant@washlaw.org or call 202-319-1000, ext. 120.

The IRR Project annually co-sponsors an asylum law training with the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program which distributes a comprehensive manual and cd-rom for pro bono attorneys who agree to represent indigent clients. The next asylum training will be November 13, 2007

Asylum and Post-Asylum Issues

Individuals who are unable or unwilling to return to their home countries because they fear that they would be harmed on account of their race, religion, nationality (ethnicity), political opinion, or membership in a particular social group may apply for political asylum. Asylum seekers may apply for asylum affirmatively to the regional Asylum Office in Arlington, Virginia, or, if known to the Department of Homeland Security, may seek asylum in removal proceedings in Immigration Court. Individuals generally must apply within the first year after their arrival in the U.S., although limited exceptions to this rule do exist. The Project provides pro bono representation to individuals applying for political asylum in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Persons who are granted political asylum are eligible to adjust their status to permanent residency after one year of physical presence in the United States. The Project also provides assistance to asylees seeking to adjust their status and has prepared an information sheet on the asylum adjustment process for use by volunteer attorneys and asylees.

The Project also helps asylees with the procedures for bringing their spouses and children to the United States, for obtaining refugee travel documents, and for qualifying for refugee resettlement program benefits. Effective June 15, 2000, the United States government is offering cash assistance and Medicaid medical insurance to asylees during the first eight months after they receive their final approval for asylum. To obtain assistance, asylees must contact the social services office in the county where they reside in order to obtain processing information. Asylees will need to submit a copy of their asylum approval. It is suggested that asylees also take a copy of the office of Refugee Resettlement State Letter #00-12 explaining the program.

Frequently Asked Questions
"A Place at the Table: Latino Civil Rights Ten Years After the Mount Pleasant Disturbances"