Seven Catholic Law students – Evana Brėnélus(1L), Caroline Cooper (1L), Tiffany Coquis (1L), Sidney Manal (2L), Bibiana Mirones (1L), Taylor Talley (3L), and Emily Hutchinson (3L) – accompanied by two faculty supervisors, Jocelyn Dyer, Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic, and Erin Scheick, Director of the Families and the Law Clinic, spent their 2026 spring break volunteering at remote and underserved immigration detention centers along the border. The students supported local non-profit organizations in their life-changing work while deepening their understanding of the challenges non-citizen migrants are currently facing in the United States.
Throughout the week, the group engaged in impactful, hands-on work. The students directly interviewed and provided legal information to immigration detainees and bore witness to the ways that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies are tearing apart families and communities around the country. Visiting border towns and the local immigration detention centers underscored the complexity of migration in the U.S., where migrants detained and ICE employees were often all neighbors from the same small community.
The students also met with non-citizens who had been peacefully living in states including Minnesota, California, and New York for many years, without any interactions with the criminal justice system, yet were arrested by ICE. Many of the detainees the students met had U.S. citizen children and spouses. Others were escaping persecution in their home countries and seeking safety in the U.S.
The Catholic Law group was hosted by the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, two non-profit organizations that provide free legal aid to detainees while advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. The group also engaged in inspiring conversations with the staff of Estrella del Paso, a ministry of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, and Sister Leticia Gutierrez Valderrama, who work tirelessly to provide “accompaniment” to non-citizens facing deportation or removal.
Sister Leticia called on us all to do what we can to support our neighbors, a message that resonated with one student who described Sister Leitia as “a beacon of hope and inspiration to us all,” who “reminds us that we can all contribute good in the world, in ways large and small.”
The service trip had a lasting impact on every participant and was an incredibly unique learning experience. One student reflected that “being able to see the sterile, prison-like detention conditions firsthand really increased my understanding and empathy more than just mere discussions about conditions ever could have.” Critically, despite the harsh and inhumane conditions witnessed in the detention centers, the students left the experience inspired to do more.
“We all walked away from this trip ready to make a difference and work harder to help people,” remarked a participant. Her colleague aptly stated that the trip helped create a community of “well-informed future lawyers acting in alignment with Catholic values.”
Current Catholic Law students interested in engaging in this type of work are encouraged to explore enrollment in the Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Clinic or the Families & the Law Clinic.