Details: The Remote Detention Intakes Project was created by Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid to address the needs of Minnesota residents detained by ICE without access to legal counsel. Volunteer attorneys complete intakes remotely and MMLA's Immigration Law Project creates brief advice and collects pro se materials to be mailed to individuals in ICE custody. This CLE will train volunteers on common forms of immigration relief, best practices during intake meetings, and how to contact different facilities throughout the country.
Presenters:
Alison Griffith has practiced law as an immigration attorney since 2014, and has represented hundreds of clients from Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe in all types of humanitarian and family immigration cases, with a special emphasis on removal defense and advocacy for non-citizen youth. Alison is currently a Supervising Attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Immigration Law Project. Prior to joining MMLA in 2023, Alison represented non-citizen clients both in removal defense and in benefits cases at an MN-based private immigration firm, at the Minnesota based nonprofit The Advocates for Human Rights, and at the DC-based nonprofit Kids In Need of Defense. Alison speaks Spanish.
Louica Alexandre is an Attorney Fellow in the Immigration Law Project at MMLA, where she works with detainees and works on removal cases at the immigration court. Previously, she worked at the Advocates for Human Rights as a staff attorney within the Immigration HUB collaborative, where she helped create pro se materials and represented a variety of clients, including unaccompanied minors and detainees, in immigration matters. Louica graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she concentrated in immigration law and served as a certified student attorney in the Detainee Rights Clinic. Louica is a member of AILA. She speaks French, Spanish and Haitian-creole fluently.
Nasriye Birmaji is an Immigration Rapid Response Attorney Fellow with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Immigration Law Project, where she represents detained and non-detained individuals in removal proceedings. She has practiced immigration law since 2023 and has experience in a broad range of humanitarian and family-based immigration matters, including asylum, removal defense, naturalization, and family-based petitions. She has represented individuals from diverse backgrounds before immigration agencies and courts. Prior to joining Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Nasriye practiced immigration law at Wilson Law Group, where she represented clients in both affirmative and defensive immigration matters. Before entering private practice, she served as a law clerk with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office Child Protection Division and as a judicial extern with Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District Court. Nasriye speaks English and Oromo.
Maia Bowman is a legal assistant in the pro bono unit at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, starting in 2025 and supporting units across MMLA with a focus on the Immigration Law Project. Since January, they have helped to coordinate the remote detention intakes project and served as the first point of contact for volunteers. Maia is an alumni of the University of Minnesota and speaks conversational Spanish.
CLE: 1 hour of Standard CLE credit to be applied for