DePaul University College of Law will host a discussion on
advocacy for migrant farm workers today, Monday, October 24 from 12 to 1 p.m. DePaul's chapter of
the National
Lawyers Guild and the Society
for Asylum and Immigration Law will present
attorneys from the Farmers & Landscapers Advocacy Project (FLAP)
and the Immigrants and the Workers’ Rights Practice Group of the
Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF)
to discuss important and often underacknowledged legal issues facing
millions of people across the United States.
According to a recent Chicago Tribune
article,
there are approximately 2.5 million farm workers in America; up to
70 percent of them are undocumented and fear deportation. This event expects
to introduce the legal community to their plights and needs.
Attendees will learn about the advocacy efforts of legal and social
services, as well as ways that attorneys and students can further aid
the Illinois farm worker population.
Speakers include Jose Alonso, an
attorney with the Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group at
LAF, and Meghan A. VanLeuwen, Litigation Director at the Farmworker
and Landscaper Advocacy Project.
About the organizations:
The Society for Immigration and
Asylum Law at DePaul Law educates students in the areas of asylum
and immigration law.
The National Lawyers Guild at
DePaul Law advocates for basic changes in economic and political
systems and defends the rights of disenfranchised groups, such as
migrant farm workers.
FLAP was created in 1999 due to
federal funding that severely limited the assistance
federally-funded legal services programs could provide. FLAP offers
clients employment-related litigation assistance, outreach, and
education.
LAF provides free legal assistance
to people living below the poverty line in Cook County, Illinois;
its Immigrants & Workers’ Rights practice group focuses on
migrant agricultural and landscape workers.