By Jessica Arana
Drexel University – Kline School of Law, 3L

This summer, I had the pleasure to intern for Project Libertad. Project Libertad is a non-profit organization that empowers newcomer immigrant youth and their families by providing essential, youth-led, and youth-centered legal and social services.  

At Project Libertad I had the opportunity to follow different legal cases from beginning to end. I learned how to properly take a potential client’s information during an intake, suggest relief methods after an intake is completed, and finally work on a client’s case. What work I did on a client’s case depended upon the relief we were seeking for the client. This could entail filling out an immigration application for status, taking client declarations, and obtaining the evidence required for their case. Most of my cases included applying to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Asylum, but we continued to screen the clients for any possible relief. Sometimes, when a client has been through trauma, the client can take a while to be open and tell you everything that could potentially lead to new forms of relief for the client.  

In this internship, I learned the real meaning of patience. I must be very patient with my clients in order to gain their trust and help the world see them as humans, not just immigrant youth. I believe this work has solidified that I absolutely want to work in immigration law. No matter the capacity whether that continues to be in front of clients or in policy, immigration law requires people like me. People who understand the immigrant story from a first-hand perspective. I am the child of immigrants who were displaced by the civil war in El Salvador and even though I am a citizen of the United States that has not removed me from the immigrant treatment I continue to receive in this country. I am here for the long haul.