How To Help
Pro Bono Opportunities
NIJC has several pro bono projects that link attorneys with immigrant adults and children in need of legal assistance. NIJC offers a variety of meaningful, discrete pro bono opportunities, including:
- Providing direct representation to men and women fleeing persecution in their home countries and helping them to obtain asylum in the United States;
- Conducting "Know Your Rights" presentations and/or providing direct representation to unaccompanied immigrant children in government custody;
- Assisting battered immigrant women obtain protection under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); and
- Helping immigrants become U.S. citizens through NIJC’s Naturalization Clinic.
NIJC’s pro bono projects in all of these areas have been highly successful for clients and rewarding for attorneys. The time commitment for pro bono attorneys can last anywhere from several hours for one-time clinical assistance to several months for full representation. Attorneys can apply the hours spent before the Immigration Court toward their admission to the federal bar.
For more information on NIJC's pro bono opportunities, to see a description of available cases, or for information on upcoming pro bono trainings, please call (312) 660-1370. To access NIJC's pro bono resources, materials, and other information, please click here.
Donate
NIJC and its clients thrive on the financial support of caring individuals. Your gift can reunite a family, free a detained asylum seeker, even save a life of an individual facing deportation to a life-threatening situation. Your support also helps assure that we as a society strike a just balance between liberty and security, and that we affirm the fundamental rights and values that have always been a part of American life.
To make a financial contribution, please send a check to:
National Immigrant Justice Center
208 S. LaSalle Street Suite 1818
Chicago, IL 60604
or:
IMPORTANT NOTE: Online donations will be received by Heartland Human Care Services. Please note this gift is for "National Immigrant Justice Center" in "Designation (optional)" field in online form.
Thank you for your support.
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Volunteer Opportunities, Internships, and Fellowships
New Americans Initiative
If you are interested in helping with the New American's Initiative workshops on the weekends, please review the following schedule of upcoming workshops. You must be trained first if you have not previously volunteered or worked with citizenship applications. Please follow the contact information on this form.
Translating/Interpreting
NIJC is always in need of bilingual volunteers to translate documents or interpret during client interviews. If you are fluent in any of the following languages and can volunteer your time, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator.
- Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Portuguese
- Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
- Mandarin, Thai, Korean, Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese
- Amharic, Tigrinya, Swahili
- Mam, Quechua, or other indigenous languages
Internships
NIJC offers internships to law students and undergraduates for 8-15 weeks (fall, winter/spring, summer terms) that range in duties from considerable client work (including possibility of court presentations for law students) to translation work in all of our programs. Foreign language abilities are not required, but will be very helpful to intern and organization.
Please contact Program Coordinator at nijc@heartlandalliance.org with subject heading "NIJC Internship" to apply or for more details. To apply, please include a resume, cover letter, and references.
NOTE: We have filled all of our available spring and summer internship positions at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you wish to be considered should a late position become available, please note this in your application materials.
Career Opportunities
For a listing of open positions at NIJC, please visit the career page at the main Heartland Alliance site.
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