Five Ways Cultural Anthropologists Can Help Law Firms Manage Pro Bono Asylum Cases
October 2, 2024
Introduction
Amid a critical shortage of immigration lawyers in the United States, and with asylum under attack through national policy, many law firms are taking on pro bono asylum cases. These cases can require extensive work hours from attorneys who specialize in a wide range of practice areas, not necessarily immigration.
Cultural anthropologists are extensively trained to conduct research through in-depth personal interviews and are experts at narrating life stories. This makes them particularly well suited to gather the essential information needed for asylum cases, such as compiling declarations and witnesses’ affidavits. They can therefore enhance the process for law firms.
How Cultural Anthropologists Helpfully Approach Working with Asylum Applicants
One: Context and Regional insights
Anthropologists understand the significance that geographic, political, and social context have on interviews; they know that all these influence the questions asked and the answers received. Key aspects of an individual’s asylum claim can easily be missed or overlooked without this insight. Anthropologists with an education or field experience in the region of a client’s origin bring their understanding of the political and social context into the interview and make it easier for the team to gather the information most relevant to an effective asylum claim.
Additionally, anthropologists are trained to think about the circumstances surrounding an individual’s life story. This makes anthropologists attuned to political, social, and cultural context, even when interviewing clients from regions outside of their background..
Two: Research Methods
Anthropologists apply their research expertise widely when gathering evidence, such as reviewing documents, proofs, and locating witnesses in the applicant’s country of origin. These investigative skills bring value and build more robust asylum cases.
Three: Trauma-Informed Approach
People applying for asylum have often been through life-threatening events and are living in fear. Many anthropologists are trained to work with people experiencing trauma from political, gender-based, and other forms of violence. Their trauma-informed approach to interviewing ensures that asylum seekers are treated with compassion and dignity. Many anthropologists have developed a strong set of ethical practices and are aware of ways to minimize retraumatization when asking an individual to recount painful experiences.
Four: Cross-Cultural Communication
Most cultural anthropologists have done extensive fieldwork in cultural contexts different from their own, providing them with invaluable skills to communicate effectively across differences. These skills can lead to detailed and accurate declarations as well as smooth coordination with asylum seekers, their family members, and other witnesses.
Five: Multilingualism
Many anthropologists speak multiple languages. They are thus able to act as interpreters for communication between lawyers and clients, conduct interviews in the asylum seeker’s native tongue, and translate personal statements into English. The anthropologist’s language skills are also helpful when speaking by phone with clients in detention centers, reviewing forms such as the I-589, answering questions, and preparing before a hearing. An anthropologist conversant in the asylum seeker’s language can also read and translate documentation such as death records, medical reports, autopsies, and police complaints, to see what evidence is available and what other evidence needs to be gathered.
How PhD Cultural Anthropologists Benefit Law Firms’ Work Process
Engaging anthropologists to assist with certain aspects of the asylum process is beneficial to both law firms and asylum seekers. Here are some of the specific services anthropologists can provide:
- Preparing Declarations
- Generating Witness’ Affidavits
- Completing Forms
- Gathering Evidence
- Obtaining Human Rights Reports
- Coordinating Country Expert Reports
To explore hiring a cultural anthropologist to provide support for a pro bono asylum case, contact Dr. Julila Paley or Dr. Beth Geglia and request a complimentary conversation.
About the Authors
Dr. Julia Paley holds a PhD from Harvard University, and served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, where she taught research methods and Latin American Studies. As an immigration justice and human rights specialist with expertise in foreign policy, gender, and root causes of migration, she has focused over the last eight years on detention release, deportation defense, asylum, and the wellbeing of refugees. Fluent in Spanish, she has expertise in preparing materials for asylum applications.
Dr. Beth Geglia holds a PhD in Anthropology from American University and has worked extensively on politics and human rights in Central America, foreign policy, human trafficking, sexual violence, and issues of asylum and deportation with immigrants in Washington, DC. She is trained as an oral historian, as a trauma-informed crisis responder, and as a Spanish interpreter and translator.