Ruthie Epstein, researcher and advocate for the Refugee Protection Program of Human Rights First, will speak about U.S. immigration detention policy and practice on Wednesday (Jan. 11) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
Ruthie Epstein, researcher and advocate for the Refugee Protection Program of Human Rights First, will speak about U.S. immigration detention policy and practice on Wednesday (Jan. 11) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
She will also discuss Human Rights First’s pro bono legal representation program for indigent asylum seekers.
The free, public lecture will begin at noon in Room 4085 of Van Hecke-Wettach Hall,
160 Ridge Road. Epstein will be introduced by Alston Gardner, a UNC alumnus and member of the UNC Board of Trustees who is also on the board of Human Rights First, an independent, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington.
Epstein is the author of “Jails and Jumpsuits: Transforming the U.S. Immigration Detention System – A Two-Year Review,” released in October 2011. She presented the preliminary findings of this report in August 2011 at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association. Epstein also has worked extensively on the issue of Iraqi displacement and wrote the report “Promises to the Persecuted: The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act” (2009). Previously, she helped run Human Rights First’s pro bono legal representation program in New York and New Jersey.
Epstein’s talk is sponsored by the Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic at the School of Law, along with the Immigration Law Association and the International and Comparative Law Organization. The Immigration/Human Rights Policy Clinic provides opportunities for UNC law students to represent clients in immigration cases and to work on legal projects addressing human rights initiatives. For more information about the center, visit http://www.law.unc.edu/academics/clinic/ihrp/.
School of Law contact: Allison Reid, (919) 843-7148, allison_reid@unc.edu