By Jonathan Cineas and Samantha Enriquez
March 13,2023
Today we visited the Florence Immigration Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP) office in Tucson, Arizona. FIRRP partnered with Santa Clara Law Center for Social Justice and Public Service to host our group and organize visits throughout our Border Spring Break Service Project. We are grateful for all of their efforts.
This first day in the field revolved around learning about FIRRP as an organization. A managing attorney at FIRRP introduced us to the organization, what they do, and how they accomplish its vital work providing free legal services to detained adults and children facing removal. Their vision is to help immigrants facing removal, inform them of their rights, and ensure they have counsel.
To further expose us to skills necessary for this line of work, a social worker on an interdisciplinary team with attorneys shared in-depth information on professional boundaries and why they are essential. The group also joined an all-hands meeting to understand better the issues facing clients and the day-to-day work at the organization. Students were very impressed with the holistic approach and self-care policies instituted to benefit employees at the organization.
The FIRRP members kindly hosted us for lunch together. During this exchange, we discovered more about the team members and what brought them to the organization.
After lunch, we were tasked with a list of assignments and began working. Many students reached out to the attorneys and were able to provide the support they needed. The projects were varied and exciting, from assisting with translations to legal research on country conditions; all were impactful.
We concluded with our group having dinner at Seis Kitchen, a delicious Mexican restaurant. We debriefed on what we learned, which impacted us on the first day. We were especially impressed with how many people the FIRRP has touched and helped. We left feeling that, although it is impossible to help everyone, that should not discourage us from trying to help as many people as possible.
