For three Pomona students interested in immigrant advocacy, a summer spent assisting immigration attorneys and helping clients with complex paperwork made the work tangible and shed light on the variety of career paths possible in social justice and public interest law.
These summer opportunities were made possible through the Pomona College Internship Program (PCIP), overseen by the Career Development Office, which provides funding, resources and mentorship for students to pursue low-paid or unpaid internships. This summer, nearly 100 students benefited from the program.
What happens behind the scenes
Growing up in the Los Angeles area, Ashley Vicente-Citalan ’29 remembers attending Central American Resource Center’s (CARECEN) community events with her family. “Being able to intern at an organization that has been part of my community for so long felt very meaningful,” she says. As a politics and Chicano/a and Latino/a studies double major, she was also excited to learn more about immigrant advocacy and the work that goes into supporting Central American communities.
For her PCIP, Vicente-Citalan worked as a legal assistant for one of CARECEN’s attorneys, reviewing applications for U visas—special visas for victims of violent crime who cooperate with law enforcement—and making sure clients’ paperwork was complete and organized. She also had the opportunity to learn from the policy team about the process of proposing and advocating for policies that support immigrant communities.
Vicente-Citalan says one of the biggest lessons she has learned is how much work happens behind the scenes to advocate for immigrant communities.
“Before this internship, I mostly associated CARECEN with the community events I attended growing up,” she says. “I was surprised to learn how much time is dedicated to policy research, coalition building and legislative advocacy.” She also found it meaningful to see how policy work can directly impact people’s lives, even when much of that work happens outside of the public eye.
“This experience has made me reflect on the different ways people can make an impact in their communities,” says Vicente-Citalan. “It has encouraged me to think more deeply about where my own strengths lie, and which type of work would allow me to make the greatest contribution in the future.”
Supporting the Asian American community
Jocelyn Cho ’28 first learned about Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) in a Scripps College class on Asian Americans and the law, in which she read about a case concerning Thai garment workers trafficked into slave labor in El Monte.
“That’s really close to where I’m from in LA,” says Cho, a public policy analysis major minoring in Asian American studies. “I learned how AJSOCAL, who handled that case, were able to free the garment workers from their situation and also pass the most comprehensive anti-sweatshop labor legislation at the time.” AJSOCAL, she found out, had also been integral to creating the T visa, which protects those who have been trafficked and allows them to stay in the U.S. without being deported.
Cho, who had previously spent a summer carrying out policy research on green space in Koreatown, was eager to continue doing work that served the Asian American community and was thrilled to discover that AJSOCAL was hiring interns this summer.
As part of the development team, Cho spent much of her time immersed in data management and organizational work, as well as donor outreach. She also was able to observe other aspects of AJSOCAL’s work, such as citizenship clinics and immigration legal aid.
Talking with people outside her team, including immigration attorneys and legal students on summer clerkships, as well as lobbyists and health access coordinators, gave Cho valuable insight into the multi-faceted work of a social justice organization serving disadvantage communities and bolstered her interest in pursuing a career in this area.
“I have my eyes set on law school,” she says. “And this showed me a more human side to law and the legal field in general. I would love to explore options in public interest law.”
Hope and encouragement
For Jimena Diaz ’28, a politics and Chicano/a and Latino/a studies double major, spending the summer with Guided Immigration Solutions, a Chicago-based company that provides a broad range of immigration services, offered a helpful close-up view of a field she is interested in entering.
“I was excited for this opportunity because it was my first time being introduced to the legal field and working alongside an immigration attorney,” says Diaz, who also appreciated learning more about how current laws and policies have affected immigrants without status and their ability to obtain legal relief and visas. “I was eager to understand what working in the legal field actually looks like behind the scenes and how attorneys support clients through these complicated processes.”
On a daily basis, Diaz helped draft U Visa certification letters, assisted with I-130 forms, collected client information and reviewed police records and court documents. She also attended webinars on different types of visas and current policies affecting the application process.
Beyond learning about the technical aspects of immigration processes, Diaz says she has found “a lot of beauty and depth” in hearing the stories of the people she has been helping. “Being able to give clients hope and encouragement as they navigate an uncertain process has been especially meaningful to me,” she says. “Their stories have motivated me to continue showing up and doing the best I can in my role.”
As she looks to the future, Diaz feels an increased sense of clarity about “what working in this field truly looks like and the determination that lawyers need.” It has strengthened her interest in pursuing a career in this field, she says, “especially after seeing the support and relief it can bring to immigrant communities.”