Teresa Reyes Flores '21 has been awarded a two-year Immigrant Justice Corps fellowship to work with Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) in New Orleans. She will be representing immigrants who are detained at Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center.
Flores's passion for immigration law stems from her family’s immigration story. As a first-generation American, she grew up watching her Salvadoran mother’s ten-year journey to obtaining lawful status. As a law clinic student in Texas A&M Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic and intern with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Teresa worked on affirmative and defensive cases, including asylum and SIJ.
"In 7 years, IJC Fellows have had a profound impact on the delivery of legal services for immigrant poor," said IJC's founder, Robert A. Katzmann, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, "I am confident that the 2021 Justice Fellows, with their impressive backgrounds and commitment to immigrants' rights, will help IJC continue to meet the deep need for quality legal counsel which makes all the difference."
The IJC program is the country's first fellowship program wholly dedicated to meeting immigrants' need for high-quality legal assistance. Twenty-eight graduates from top law schools and with impressive experience from around the country were chosen for the fellowship.
Fellows serve for two years as staff attorneys at strategically selected legal services agencies and community-based organizations across the country, providing legal assistance to low-income immigrants in an array of immigration matters including deportation defense and affirmative applications for those fleeing persecution.