This summer, Elana Brown ’29, an international studies major from Washington, D.C., with minors in political science and business administration, has an internship with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.
Why did you decide to pursue this internship?
Growing up in D.C., I’ve seen firsthand how much immigrant populations like the Ethiopian and Salvadoran immigrant communities make this city what it is. It’s heartbreaking to see so many living in fear, and who are afraid to go to work, to grocery shop, or to go to places of worship because of how intense and terrifying ICE enforcement and detentions have become.
In 2016, when the Trump administration issued the travel bans, a group of Yemeni high school students who were here legally through a State Department program were suddenly stranded because civil war broke out back home. My family took in one of the students, Saleh, and he became like a brother to me. Almost a decade later, Saleh is still living in total limbo, facing constant stress from unpredictable policy changes like the revocation of [Temporary Protected Status]. Watching someone I love get thrown around by a system that feels inhumane fueled my want to help those communities. I chose the Amica Center because they’re on the ground fighting for the rights of detained adults and kids who are being left completely in the dark.
Last semester, I took a class called Rights, Refugees, Resettlement (a Scholars at Risk course), and I found the course to be super interesting and impactful.
What does a typical day look like for you?
In my role as an intern on the volunteer program team, I handle a mix of administrative and research tasks to support the volunteer program and the Know Your Rights team. Lately, I’ve been building a centralized database to streamline immigrant rights volunteer opportunities across the [District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia] area. While many local organizations support immigrant and refugee communities, they are often too overwhelmed to onboard new volunteers. The goal of the database is to synthesize active volunteer needs, organization profiles, and specific skill requirements so eager volunteers can actually get plugged in to the immigrant rights movement where they are needed most.
I also handle Record of Proceedings requests to secure vital immigration records for pro se individuals. My role involves a very small, behind-the-scenes part of the process, but it’s a critical step that allows the legal team to step in and defend individuals who are unjustly being detained.
How have your Muhlenberg experiences helped you in this work?
Last semester, I took a class called Rights, Refugees, Resettlement (a Scholars at Risk course), and I found the course to be super interesting and impactful. We learned about international migration laws, and I got the opportunity to write a paper on the history of Temporary Protected Status in the U.S. Honestly, learning about how broken our immigration system is just made me angry, but it also motivated me. As a college student with no legal background, I didn’t think there was much I could actually do to help. But that class ignited a passion in me and gave me the confidence to go out and find an organization like the Amica Center where I could play a small part in the kind of work that truly makes a difference and is advocating for good.