About Us

IJL is an initiative designed around best-practices in the fields of public engagement and project-based learning. We are eager to support, and learn from, colleagues elsewhere who are developing similar projects.

IJL focuses on Public Engagement in the Humanities and Teaching & Learning with projects:

Guides to Defending Yourself in Immigration Court
Asylum Project
Country Experts

The Team

Jessica Lefort

Director of Immigrant Justice Lab, Professor

Rebeca Ontiveros-Chavez

Managing Attorney, Michigan Immigration Rights Center (MIRC)

Melissa Borja

Professor, American Culture

Courtney Petersen

J.D./M.S.W. dual degree candidate

Melissa Almonte

JD Graduate (Law School)

Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof

Professor of History and American Culture, Founding Director

Ashley Moon

Designer and Researcher

Amy Sankaran

Immigrant Justice Lab Professor

Grace Argo

Asylum Team Coordinator, Ph.D. Student (History/Women’s Studies), IJL Graduate Supervisor

Alexander Stephens

Ph.D. Candidate (History), Coordinator of Immigration and the Carceral State Initiatives

Ana Raquel Devereaux

Staff Attorney, MIRC

Amelia Frank-Vitale

Anthropologist, Princeton University

Tania Morris-Díaz

Former Staff Attorney, MIRC