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Episode 30 - “Empowering Advocates in Immigration Law” with Jon Goldman & Alana Gulliver (#ThisIsMyEra the Podcast)

Article by Josh Park

Politics aside, there is no doubt that immigration has a huge impact in today’s society, particularly in the United States.
People from all across the world travel to this country in order to pursue their dreams, find opportunities, and to change their lives. But with our complicated and painstakingly slow legal system, immigration law and regulations often serve as a major barrier to those aspiring to live here.
Unlike many other areas of law, immigration law is a specialty where people without a JD can represent clients in immigration courts through a certification process. Representation is a key factor in the success of an immigration case, as shown by the 2016 statistic that 90% of unrepresented asylum cases were denied in immigration courts.
Founded in 2016, The Right to Immigration Institute, abbreviated to TRII (pronounced like “tree”) was created by a professor and 3 students at Brandeis University in order to combat this problem of underrepresentation in Massachusetts. Two of the staff members of TRII, Jonathan Goldman and Alana Gulliver, who are currently students at Brandeis, are here in this episode with Alexander Star.
Co-Founder of the organization, Jonathan is currently a third year at Brandeis majoring in Politics and Philosophy with minors in Economics, Legal Studies, and Social Justice and Social Policy. He is serving as the Relations Director at TRII.
Alana Gulliver is a Millennium Fellow and a sophomore at Brandeis University. She is currently studying International and Global Studies as well as Biology for the premedical track.
TRII is currently made up of a team of 2 attorneys, 2 Department of Justice partially accredited representatives, and over 15 volunteers. Since its founding it has trained more than 20 students to become accredited. In addition to the training, TRII also hosts workshops, info sessions, and talks to educate the community and empower others to engage with the immigration process.
In this episode, you will learn about Jonathan and Alana’s experience working with this organization. You’ll get to hear about the impact that they have made working with clients through all sorts of immigration related issues as well as the impact that this organization had on them individually.
Are you passionate about a social cause and want to transform your life to make an impact as well?
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Pull quotes:
 
  • “People don’t fit into one story; immigrants have a wide variety of backgrounds.”
  • “Immigrants play an integral role to us enjoying what we know as our everyday life.”
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Episode Outline:
(1:55)      Introduction to Jonathan Goldman and Alana Gulliver
(2:50)      How TRII got started
(6:50)      Challenges of working in this field
(11:09)      How Alana got involved
(13:00)      TRII’s success stories
(16:00)      Alana’s immigration story
(17:20)      Star’s immigration story
(19:00)      Daily Impact of Immigration
(23:45)      The motivation to overcome daily challenges
(27:15)      Why this is TRII's era
(28:45)      How to support TRII