Human stories, legal realities: navigating immigration in Minnesota

Paul Sullivan (they/them) is an organizer with the ACLU of Minnesota. In their work, Paul has focused on felony voter outreach, Indigenous community outreach, community ICE know-your-rights trainings, and municipal criminal legal policy lobbying. Paul also designed and runs the ACLU-MN’s annual Smart Justice Fellowship, an organizer training fellowship for Justice-Impacted Minnesotans. Paul received their Master of Human Rights from the University of Minnesota, where they focused on Human Migration and Transpacific Studies, and received their Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from St. Olaf College. Before joining the ACLU of Minnesota, Paul worked as a field organizer for various local electoral campaigns in the Twin Cities, as an immigration paralegal, as an axe throwing coach, and as a language educator in both the United States and China.

Benjamin Casper is a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota who works in the area of immigration law. He graduated from Carleton College in 1990 and the University of Minnesota Law School in 1997. Before joining the ACLU, Ben was the founding director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School, a collaborative clinical program dedicated to defending the rights of noncitizens and improving our nation's immigration laws. He also directed the Binger Center's Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, which engaged law students in impact litigation on behalf of immigrants and refugees before federal courts.

ACLU Minnesota was founded in 1952 as the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. It works to promote, protect, and extend the civil liberties and rights of people in Minnesota through litigation, lobbying, and community engagement. 

Eber Melchor-Martínez, is a Minneapolis native and fourth year student at the University of Minnesota. He was raised by a single undocumented mother from Mexico City. His experience helping his mother navigate systems (not built for her), inspired him to advocate for immigrant rights and his community.

COPAL (Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action) was founded in 2018. It is a member-based organization that works to improve the quality of life for Latine families.

Mahmoud Ahmed is the Community Outreach Program and Research Coordinator at the James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School. In this role, he leads the Center's outreach, research, and education programs, focusing on legislative and research initiatives such as the Solitary Confinement Project. This interdisciplinary effort aims to promote legislation to regulate and abolish the use of housing segregation and solitary confinement in Minnesota jails and prisons. Ahmed’s work is characterized by a strong commitment to community-led change, demonstrated by his ability to bring together legislators, policy authors, academic experts, and community leaders to drive impactful policy reform.

Before joining the Binger Center, Ahmed worked in refugee resettlement at the International Institute of Minnesota. As a Resettlement and Placement case manager, he coordinated with local, federal, and international organizations, including the Social Security Administration, the International Organization for Migration, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to provide comprehensive services to newly arrived refugees. He also served as a Housing Case Manager, where he assisted clients in finding housing, navigating landlord relations, and understanding housing norms and legal expectations.

Ahmed's experience in advocacy extends to his involvement with the Sudanese American Collective, where he co-founded efforts to mobilize support for the Sudanese Revolution. The collective partnered with U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar's office to pass S.Res.188, a bill supporting the Sudanese people in their pursuit of civil and sustainable democracy.

In addition to his advocacy work, Ahmed has a strong background in research and project coordination. He collaborated with the University of Bahri’s Center for Peace and Development Studies in Sudan, where he worked on peace-building and economic development projects. He also participated in research on political polarization with Columbia University, contributing to the publication of findings in the journal *Nature Human Behavior*.

Ahmed's professional journey is deeply rooted in his lived experiences as a Muslim African from Sudan, where ongoing conflicts have profoundly shaped his passion for human rights. His work reflects a commitment to addressing complex human rights, social justice, and immigration issues through a combination of research, advocacy, and community engagement.

He is currently pursuing a Masters of Human Rights at the University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in collaboration with CLA.

The James H. Binger Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota was founded in 2013. It provides legal services for noncitizens, pursues litigation to improve our nation’s immigration laws, and supports noncitizens in the region through education and community outreach.

Matthew Mockenhaupt represents clients in immigration law matters before the immigration courts and USCIS - he has achieved successful outcomes for clients in applications for citizenship, adjustment of status, DACA and other applications for affirmative benefits with USCIS. Also, he is not afraid to take on a difficult case and has successfully resolved cases for people detained by ICE including grants of cancellation of removal and relief under the convention against torture in removal proceedings, and successfully achieving stipulations with ICE that removal proceedings be terminated. Matt began his work in immigration law as a student in the Health Law Clinic at Mitchell Hamline School of Law where he graduated with honors in 2020. Before going to law school he graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2012. He is licensed to practice law in Minnesota, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The Ojala-Barbour Law Firm helps clients navigate U.S. immigration law. They represent immigrants and their families with cases in the immigration courts, before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Board of Immigration Appeals and our federal courts.

Zoe Martens (she/her) is the immigration outreach coordinator at Southern MN Regional Legal Services. She has worked in support of migrant communities in the Twin Cities as a domestic violence advocate with Esperanza United, with people seeking asylum in Mexico at the Mexico-Guatemala border, and in migration policy advocacy at the Kino Border Initiative in Sonora, Mexico. She holds a Masters in Human Rights from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School.

Southern MN Regional Legal Services was founded in 1909 and is a non-profit law firm. They provide high quality legal services to low-income people in critical civil matters. They serve clients across 33 counties in southern Minnesota.