Mary Holper 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition, Washington, DC Sponsor(s): Baker & McKenzie Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Boston College Law School, 2003

Mary Holper works at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, DC. The CAIR Coalition unites community groups, pro bono attorneys, volunteers and immigrants to work for a fair and humane immigration policy. The main focus of Mary's project is to provide legal assistance to non-citizens who are detained by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). They are detained pursuant to the 1996 amendments to the immigration laws, which subjected many lawful immigrants to mandatory detention and deportation. Mary visits detainees to conduct legal rights presentations and directly represents those who face removal from the U.S. because of a misdemeanor or other criminal charges. As a fluent French and Spanish speaker, she is able to directly communicate with the many detainees who come from countries in Africa and Latin America. In addition, Mary conducts training sessions for criminal defense lawyers and immigrant service providers about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. She is also creating a referral network of low-fee attorneys for detained non-citizens. Her goal is to facilitate access to justice for immigration detainees, who remain in custody beyond their criminal sentences and yet have no right to an appointed attorney. Mary’s commitment to helping immigration detainees developed from her work as a law student with the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network in Boston. She visited INS detainees in New England to conduct group rights presentations, corresponded with detainees about their defenses to deportation and participated in litigation concerning individual cases. She also completed an independent study as a law clerk for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project in New York and provided direct services to non-citizens at Ayuda, Inc. in Washington, DC. Before law school, Mary taught English for one year in Costa Rica with the volunteer program WorldTeach and volunteered at the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center in Chicago.