Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof

The Immigrant Justice Lab (IJL) is collaborative public humanities project that produces a wide range of scholarly artifacts for and with community partners working in immigrant advocacy in Michigan. In response to needs identified by partners, the IJL trains and supervises interdisciplinary teams of students to create materials for use in immigrant advocacy and defense, community education, and much more. It accomplishes this work through integration with courses, independent studies, paid internships, and volunteer opportunities. The mission of these projects is 1) to provide the best possible academic work to our community partners; 2) to create opportunities for undergraduate and professional students from diverse backgrounds to learn academic skills through projects that address pressing social issues; and 3) and to enable graduate students to gain experience in designing and implementing publicly engaged scholarship. The residency, at the IJL’s lead partner, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), will expand the project and make our work accessible to a wider public. MIRC is a non-profit agency that provides pro bono legal services in naturalization and citizenship matters. MIRC also engages in advocacy on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, refugees, unaccompanied minors, and farmworkers.