Immigration Article of the Day: Living Pro Bono Loco: My Year in the Access to Justice Gap and the Humanitarian Refugee Crisis in the American Southwest by Kristina Campbell

Living Pro Bono Loco: My Year in the Access to Justice Gap and the Humanitarian Refugee Crisis in the American Southwest by Kristina Campbell, 28 Rich. Pub. Int. L. Rev. 83 (2025)

Abstract

This Article is a reflection on the time I spent in Salt Lake City from 2022 to 2024 as a Visiting Professor at the University of Utah. S.J. Quinney College of Law and the challenges that I encountered trying to serve Utah’s Venezuelan refugee community. While at the University of Utah, I launched the Refugee Law Clinic at the College of Law and encountered a refugee crisis of historic proportions. I observed an influx of Venezuelan asylum seekers in Utah with removal cases venued in Salt Lake City Immigration Court who lacked counsel and were desperately seeking assistance. Despite Utah’s large Spanish-speaking community and many lawyers who are willing and able to provide pro bono or “low bono” assistance to asylum seekers, the largest group of refugees in the state—Venezuelans—encountered a populace that was reluctant to recognize their status as bona fide refugees, while at the same time providing extensive legal and humanitarian resources to two much smaller groups of newcomers—Ukrainian and Afghan nationals.

KJ