ATLANTA — A group of Georgia State University law students are trading a typical spring break to help immigrants behind bars. It's part of their alternative spring break program.
It's not something you'd think of students doing for their spring break: Going to an immigration detention center in Lumpkin, Georgia and staying at a hospitality home for a week with strangers. But it's something that these law students know could make a huge difference for some seeking asylum.
For many immigrants in the United States, having an attorney can often mean the difference between winning or losing your case. But an immigrant - whether detained or not - does not have the right to government-appointed counsel.
"In the southeast, only one-in-six immigrants in detention have access to an attorney, and you are ten times more likely to succeed in your case if you do," explained Darcy Meals, who oversees the Center for Access to Justice program.
"You can imagine navigating - even doing your taxes is tough enough - but navigating the immigration system from detention without an attorney is kind of an insurmountable task for people," Meals explained. "You have to gather documents and evidence, often times from the country of origin."
This year, eight GSU law students will tackle that task with the help of attorneys from the southern poverty law center.
"There's kind of nothing more dramatic than seeing people who have come to this country for a better life in detention," Meals said. "So, for the students to see that, I think it really drives home the value of a legal education and what they can do with their degree."
This year, they are adding a second immigration detention center to the list, the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.
"Every year that we've done the trip, there's been more demand from students then we've had capacity to fill, so that's why we expanded to two trips," Meals explained.
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Alex Estroff went to Stewart Detention Center, where he conducted interviews with detainees and did legal research pro-bono. But, while many students have a beach trip in mind for their spring break, "Most of them are probably not in Lumpkin, Georgia at an immigration detention center," he explained.
"We were able to hear their stories and learn about them and their families, which is something that most people don't get the chance to do," Estroff said.
It's also where Gabriela Batista Vargas will be going this year. And something that's also personal to her, as the daughter of immigrants.
"I know how difficult it is in the immigration system right now, you know, not having legal representation, and maybe feeling just stuck, so I wanted to be that person to provide any legal resources, be there in whatever capacity I can, as a student," she explained.
It's worth pointing out that it could take years for someone's case to be fully resolved. The SPLC attorney would continue to work on the immigrant's case after the student's week is over, but in some cases, the student can continue to remain involved.