b'CHALLENGING THE LEGALITY OF A CRUEL IMMIGRATION POLICYICEapprehendedAngelaandherhusbandinAlthoughtheBidenadministrationrecently 2019shortlyaftertheycrossedtheborderintosought to end MPP, the Supreme Court upheld theThank you for all of the United States from Mexico. When the couplevalidity of the program.requested asylum, ICE placed them in the MigrantInthesummerof2020,MintzattorneysAdamyour efforts on this ProtectionProtocols(MPP)program,moreKorn,JasonFar-hadian,andMeenaSeralathanbrief! Its great to be commonlyknownasRemaininMexico,andvolunteered to work with Public Counsel, a pro sent them south of the border to wait until thein the company of conclusion of their US immigration proceedings. bono law firm, to represent an immigrant family from El Salvador in MPP. On a parallel track, Publicthis group of amici. OntheirowninMexicowithnoresourcestoCounsel sought to bring together a coalition ofHeres hoping were securesafeaccommodations,Angelaandherother immigrant rights organizations to challengeall celebrating an end husband were repeatedly victimized. Over severalthelegalityofthe TrumpadministrationsMPP months, Angela was assaulted three times. Whenpolicy by submitting an amicus or friend of theto MPPone way she was two months pregnant, a stranger chasedcourt brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appealsor anotherin the her,draggedherintoanabandonedhouse,inthecaseofM.D.C.V.v.WilliamBarr.Given and beat her, kicking her twice in the stomach.ourworkwiththisfamilyimpactedbyMPP,months to come.Although Angela fought back and escaped, sadly,Mintz was asked to draft the amicus brief, and she later suffered a miscarriage. enthusiastically agreed. TALIA INLENDERFormer SupervisingThehorrifyingconditionsthatAngelaandThe group of amici signing onto the brief includedSenior Staff AttorneyherhusbandexperiencedwhileinMPParentsome of the largest legal advocacy organizationsPublic Counselexceptional. As of January 2021, Human Rightsin the country that focus on immigration: Catholic First had tracked more than 1,100 reported casesLegalImmigrationNetwork(CLINIC),HIAS of murder, rape, kidnapping, torture, and assault(founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), of people sent to Mexico under MPP. HumanRightsFirst,theImmigrantDefenders UntiltheTrumpadministrationimplementedLaw Center, Jewish Family Service of San Diego, MPP in 2019, non-US citizens entering the Unitedand the Tahirih Justice Center, along with Public States at the southern border with credible asylumCounsel. On behalf of these seven clients, a team claimscouldremaininthiscountrytopursuefrom Mintz drafted a brief in support of the cases theirasylumapplicationsorchallengeremovalpetitioners. A few months later, the same group of proceedings. Under MPP, they have to remain inamici agreed to work with Mintz again to submit Mexico as their cases progress, returning to thea similar brief in another Ninth Circuit Court of UnitedStatesonlytoappearattheirhearings.Appeals case, Ortiz v. Garland. Given that immigration proceedings often requireAdamandattorneysAramehOBoyle,Nada aseriesofappearances,typicallyscheduledShamonki,andClareProberjoinedforcesto monthsapart,applyingforasylumcantakedraft the petition and coordinate input and edits years. Struggling to survive in Mexico, often infrom the amici. Arameh and Nada provided key refugee camps and with no access to health carestrategic analysis, while Adam and Clare drafted or legal counsel, people in MPP face prolongedthedocumentonbehalfofthehumanrights misery with little hope of prevailing in their USorganizations. immigration proceedings.TRANSCENDING // Mintz Pro Bono Journal 23'