Social Justice Internship: Experiential Learning within Immigrant Advocacy

Matt Sanchez, The Catholic Charities Immigration and Naturalization Services

Loyola University Chicago Class of 2018

What is Social Justice?

From my personal experience serving as a social justice intern, I found that social justice is primarily centered on tenets of social equality, equal economic opportunity, and universal humanity. Importantly, these social justice tenets serve to ensure that all
individuals receive equal rights and opportunities from the society within which they reside. In other words, social justice is the work and effort that aims to provide socially marginalized communities adequate public resources, and the protection of their
civil and human rights as compared to non-marginalized communities. Social justice work can come in numerous forms, but it comes down to contributing to, and creating, a more egalitarian society. Since serving as a social justice intern and enrolling
within the corresponding EXPL 390 course of the internship program, my definition of social justice has significantly transformed. Furthermore, I credit this transformation to the reality that I received experiential learning in which I applied the studies from
my course to my internship experience, and completed hands-on work at my intern site.

Social Justice at the Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of Chicago Immigration and
Naturalization Services Department
Having interned at Catholic Charitiess Immigration
and Naturalization Services department for the 2016-
2017 academic school year, I can definitely say Ive
witnessed social justice at work in many different
forms. The department regularly operates to provide
low-income immigrant families guidance and support
throughout various U.S. immigration processes such
as deferred action renewals, employment
authorization applications, citizenship interviews, and
more. The guidance commonly comes in the form of
policy and process advising in which we encouraged
clients which proceeding steps to take at which time
and informed them of the status of their cases. The
support, on the other hand, came in the form of
comforting and reassuring our clients through denied
applications, difficult family pressures, worrisome
community perceptions of contemporary
immigration practices, and more.
Graphic 1.
Personal Experience:
One, more direct, instance I remember witnessing at the
office involved the director of the office/my supervisor,
Nancy Gavilanes, the staff, and a flustered client. The client
had a scheduled appointment with Nancy to send in her
residency application 2 days before her deadline, however
she ran extremely late and missed her appointment. When
she arrived, she came with her newborn baby and
apologized to Nancy, but she was already seeing another
client and her schedule was filled. Before the client began to
leave, her baby had defecated himself and she did not have
any more diapers on her person, or in her home. I remember
hearing her baby begin to cry, but when I walked nearby to
recover a clients file, I soon found out that it was the client,
the mother, whom was crying. When Nancy understood
what was happening, she immediately calmed the client
down, called the staff to gather together, and asked who had
time in their calendar to attend to this client. Quickly, a staff
member volunteered to assist the client with her
appointment later in the day. Afterwards, Nancy abruptly left
the office and returned with bags of baby diapers and other
baby products to give to the mother. Im aware that this
scenario does not intricately dive into assisting a client with
an administrative immigration process, but it left a mark on
me and demonstrated to me the commitment this office has
to taking care of its clients. I believe social justice does
involve a commitment or dedication to serving those in
need, and my internship site exemplified that for me on this
day.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to give a huge thanks to Andrew Miller and Nancy Gavilanes for both offering me this
transformative opportunity and guiding me through the various stage entailed with it. This was the first
internship that I ever held, and it was a great experience to engage in experiential social justice learning.
Additionally, I would like to thank the staff at Catholic Charitiess Immigration and Naturalization
Services Department. The staff completely opened their arms and welcomed me there. I was nervous
for my first internship, but all of them allowed me to feel as though I belonged there. I did because
they told me and I believed them. I thank you all for the support and guidance you consistently gave me.
Contact:
Matthew Sanchez (He/Him/His)
School of Communication | B.A. in Advocacy and Social Change
Loyola University Chicago Class of 2018
msanchez11@luc.edu
773-680-8700
My Role as a Social Justice Immigration
Intern at Catholic Charities
The particular role that I fulfilled at Catholic
Charities consisted of work that included
calling clients to remind them of their
appointments with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Services (USCIS), scheduling
appointments with clients to retrieve their
work permits or residency cards, and advising
clients on how the status of their cases will
proceed. Throughout much of this work, I was
able to converse with a wide array of clients
for a limited amount of time. The upside of my
work was that I could observe the diversity of
families and communities that needed
immigration process assistance and see the
assorted populations of those who are
affected. However, at times, I also felt that my
work was tedious or mere office work. On
some days, when all I did was call clients to
remind them of their USCIS appointments, it
was hard for me to perceive and understand
how I was carrying out and ensuring social
justice. This began to bother me, and I felt
that I wasnt making any significant
contributions to better the livelihood of
Chicagos immigrant community. Soon
enough, I brought this concern up to
discussion in my EXPL 390 class. My instructor,
classmates, and I conversed over this matter,
and we discerned that sometimes we may not
find a direct connection to or recognize direct
outcomes of social justice work but it does
not mean were not contributing to the
betterment of socially marginalized
populations. Sometimes the smallest gesture
or action we carry out can go a long way for
the person maybe needing someone next to
them to know theyre not alone, or perhaps
access to resources to improve their economic
or emotional well-being. Going back to my
intern site after our class discussion, I realized
that social justice is not always about being
the champion or developing a savior complex
for others. Rather, its utilizing your skills,
resources, and social privileges to support
those who possess a lack of resources and
equal treatment, if any.
Graphic 2.
References:
1. "DACA Information Session |St. Helena Public Library | Community Education." DACA
Information Session | N.p., 6 Apr. 2016. Web.
2. "Permanent Residency." Career Zone. N.p., n.d. Web.
3. "Hull of a House on WordPress.com." Hull of a House. N.p., 23 May 2011. Web.
4. Rice, Beverly. "Obtaining permanent residency in the U.S." LegalZoom. N.p., 21 July 2014. Web.
Client Population and Composition
The majority of clients that my internship site
served were low-wage immigrants who
predominantly lacked the knowledge and
personal resources to navigate through U.S.
immigration processes themselves. With that
being said, many times the office opened
cases for entire families with each family
member receiving their own case. Therefore,
we also took in clients across all age ranges
and generations. Some of our clients were
young teenagers while others would meet the
age requirement for senior citizenship. When
I first started interning at the office, I was
surprised to see the number of families that
would arrive for consultation and filing
appointments. Soon enough, it become a
common reality to see all generations of a
single family come in to receive assistance.
Being a college student, it was eye-opening
for me to see children in the office younger
than me because I commonly perceived
immigration assistance to be for adults. But,
once I saw the number of children frequently
in the office, I realized that entire families are
affected by immigration policy. In regards to
racial demographics, there was a significant
proportion of Hispanic and Latinx clients.
However, I also encountered numerous
clients of Asian, African, and European
descent.
Importantly, the immigration office received a
substantial intake of clients who were victims
of domestic abuse and sexual assault that was
perpetrated by U.S. citizens. When I first
began to see the number of sexual assault
victims that entered the office, I was
distraught at how many people within the
served vicinity had endured this troubling
experience. I still am distraught about this
reality today, but I feel assured knowing that a
number of them are seeking assistance at the
office and that I was able to support them.
In regards to conversing with this population
of clients, it was significantly difficult because
the client would have to reminisce back to the
day(s) of the attack which caused much
discomfort at times. In these cases, I promptly
learned that not only do I need to do a lot of
attentive listening, but I also needed to
discern when to inform the clients of the
assistance we could provide them.
Fortunately, I was able to reassure them that
our services and staff are here to help them.
Graphic 3.
Structural Injustice
In my beliefs and understandings, structural injustice is
the reality of various public institutions collectively
functioning to disproportionately serve and benefit
particular social groups over others. In essence, the
marginalized social groups are collectively stigmatized
and suppressed from adequate social resources due to
the unjust policies and practices of various public
institutions. Chicagos immigrant community and the
clients Catholic Charitiess immigration office takes in
both experience structural injustice across many
different outlets. For instance, the clients that come
into the office widely hold low-wage jobs from the
service sector. Furthermore, their employers are
prompt to lay them off if they dont have valid work
permits because they largely view them as
expendable. Since its difficult for them to sustain a
well-paying job due to the documentation statuses,
they not only have difficulty caring for their own
families, but also for paying the rather pricey federal
fees to apply for proper documentation. Within their
residential communities, high-paying jobs are seldom
offered and the public schools located there are
underfunded to offer their children an adequate
education. Through the discussions in the EXPL 390
course, we discuss how socially marginalized groups
are hindered from achieving upward social mobility
due to unequal public policies and perceptions across
vital social institutions that are constructed on the
basis to serve everyone equally in quality.
Graphic 4.
Personal Experience:
One day at the office, I was scheduled to see a client to advise
her on her work permit status and hand her the mailed
receipts we had received for her case. As she came into the
office, I looked up her file in the database and saw that she
owed the office $100 from previous appointments where she
didnt pay. I informed her of the money she owed the office,
however she did not have the money with her. Before
allowing the client to leave, I went to my supervisor to inform
her that the client did not bring the money she owed. Quickly,
Nancy pulled out a notebook that contained a list of client
names. The notebook detailed clients who had outstanding
payments with the office. Nancy advised me that these clients
have demonstrated that they possess little to no regular
income and she allows them to pay the fees when they are
able to afford them without any interest. Having talked to
her about this list, I found out that there is no formal
organizational policy on the matter. Nancy informed me that
because these clients dont have a steady income does not
mean that we can stop serving them. When I learned of this
matter at the office, I began to perceive how structural
injustice will affect individuals from all angles. Importantly, I
understood that if clients cant receive any aid because of the
lack of personal resources from all other angles, then these
clients will likely be stuck in a disadvantaged web that wont
serve them simply because all sides aspects of life arent
serving them. If individuals are socially disadvantaged, one
entity will have to first assist them in order for more
opportunities to arise for them.
Immigration Processes in 2017
From the start of my second semester
at the internship site, the mood and
demeanor of both the clients and staff
had drastically altered. The reason for
this being credited to the U.S.
presidential inauguration of Donald
Trump, and his stance on immigration
reform and policy. Once Donald Trump
was inaugurated, the office had
received massive swarms of phone
calls from anxious and worried clients.
Inside of the office, many families
were disheartened and fearful of what
would come for them. The director of
the office immediately scheduled a
department meeting to discuss how
the office would proceed with the
clients concerns and the uncertainty
around the executive administrations
actions. I was relieved to know that
the office wanted to organize a
department meeting to discuss future
steps. Due to the uncertainty of the
administration at the time (and still),
we were only able to settle on the
grounds that the office would caution
prospective deferred action and visa
applicants that we didnt know what
would completely happen. With that
being said, we began to inform them,
and still do, that their personal
information would be disclosed to the
federal government and that they have
a choice to continue with an
application or not. Again, I was
relieved to know that the office was
doing everything it could to properly
serve the community of clients it
serves. However, I was still dispirited
to see the significant worry and
newfound trauma our clients have
been experiencing. I knew it was (and
still is) a time to empathetically engage
with our clients. Not only did I
participate in a lot of active listening,
but I also constantly reminded the
clients that the office is always looking
out for their personal safety and well-
being first and foremost. In this time,
most importantly to me, I saw the
overarching humanity of the
immigrant community. I saw targeted
families huddling together and keeping
each other close. I saw the faces of
aspiring citizens wince at the unjust
criminalization of their communities. I
saw an opportunity to further engage
in social justice and advocate for this
community Ive been in close proximity
with.