Undocumented immigrants on Long Island are anxious after a week of raids by immigration authorities. Hofstra University’s law school wants to defend those who face deportation with a legal aid clinic.
Hofstra’s Deportation Defense Clinic will be the first of its kind on Long Island when it opens in the apring.
One of the founders of the clinic, Theo Liebmann, says the creation of the clinic was in direct response to the Trump administration.
“Right now there is as intense a need for good legal advocacy for immigrants out here as there has ever been.”
Patrick Young, program director for the Central American Refugee Center, says immigrant communities are living in fear.
“The president is not endowed with powers that no one can question. We can question these powers, and Hofstra University has said that they are going to be part of that questioning.”
Two attorneys will operate the clinic, with up to 20 law students assisting them each semester working with 10 clients per week.
