Immigration Law and Policy Initiative

The Immigration Law and Policy Initiative [ILPI] aims to advance teaching, interdisciplinary research, fact-finding, policy reform, and advocacy to protect the rights and dignity of individuals fleeing their home countries and seeking refuge in the U.S. The Initiative recognizes the Catholic Church’s leadership on migration issues worldwide and seeks to contribute to the Church’s efforts to advance the human rights of all individuals regardless of citizenship or national origin. The Initiative also aims to motivate the Catholic University community to grapple with the challenges of migration in response to Pope Francis’ call for Catholic universities to “educate their own students… to a clearer understanding of the phenomenon of migration, within a perspective of justice, global responsibility, and communion in diversity.”

Adopting a collaborative model, the Initiative will partner with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Office of Migration & Refugee Services, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, and other religiously affiliated and secular organizations to educate and advocate on immigration and refugee law issues. The Initiative will also work to expand curricular opportunities for students and promote legal career paths in these fields.

The Initiative’s substantive focus will change with the evolving needs of organizational partners and the expertise of Catholic Law faculty and staff affiliated with the Initiative. During the first two years, the ILPI will focus on the following issue areas:

Care, Custody, and Representation of Unaccompanied Children
Humane Border Regulation & Detention Policy
Access to Justice – Expanding Legal Representation

Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic/Immigration Law and Policy Initiative

ILPI Events

CatholicU President Kilpatrick discussion at the Immigration Conference in April 2024 The Initiative will sponsor, in collaboration with various departments at the University and external partners, conferences to educate and encourage dialogue on migration. The first conference, Responding to Changing Realities at the U.S. Border and Beyond – Catholic Approaches to Migration took place on April 11, 2024.

Use the form below to request for more information about the Immigration Law and Policy Initiative and to be updated on events.

ILPI Leadership

Stacy Brustin with a law student

Columbus School of Law's Dean Stephen C. Payne appointed Stacy Brustin, Professor Emerita, as the director of the Initiative. Professor Brustin was the founder and director of the Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic until 2022. Her scholarship focuses on due process in Immigration Courts and the intersection between family law and immigration law. She initiated the law school’s spring break immigration legal services border trips in 2019. Professor Brustin serves on the Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration. She teaches the Human Rights & Immigration Seminar and is teaching a new course, Forced Migration: U.S. Law and Policy in the spring 2024 semester.