LMU Loyola Law School’s First-of-Its-Kind Binational Migrant Advocacy Project Expands Cross-Border Immigration Advocacy Efforts

LOS ANGELES - LMU Loyola Law School's Binational Migrant Advocacy Project (BMAP), the first and only clinic of its kind housed at a U.S. law school, is expanding its cross-border advocacy efforts to address evolving immigration challenges affecting migrant communities on both sides of the U.S.- Mexico border.

A partnership between the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (LIJC) at LMU Loyola Law School and ITESO, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, BMAP provides legal advocacy, student training, and cross-border collaboration focused on supporting migrants and families navigating increasingly complex immigration systems in the United States and Mexico. The program offers services designed to help individuals and families better understand their rights, options, and access to support systems both in the U.S. and Mexico.

"This project is incredibly timely," said LIJC Founding Director Marissa Montes '12. "As policies move beyond our physical border, we as advocates have to not only provide services to migrant communities in both the U.S. and Mexico, but really train future advocates. It expands on our mission to serve migrants on both sides of the border and give students the opportunity to provide legal representation to deportees and migrants in transit."

Through BMAP, students and advocates work with migrants and families navigating deportation, displacement, legal uncertainty, and cross-border separation. The clinic supports individuals seeking humanitarian protections while helping families better understand documentation, employment, education, and long-term legal options across borders.

BMAP's work also includes supporting deportees attempting to rebuild their lives in Mexico and helping individuals navigate the legal and logistical realities of repatriation and family separation in an increasingly complex immigration environment. They are assisting a number of clients who have returned to Mexico pave the way for a legal return to the U.S., including a domestic violence survivor who was taken back to Mexico by her abusive spouse , US citizens who failed to be recognized by the government, and a father separated from a seriously ill child who remained in Los Angeles.

This work reflects BMAP's broader model of holistic, cross-border advocacy. With virtually no border crossings occurring at present, the clinic is helping Angelenos without legal status navigate difficult decisions about safety, stability, employment, documentation, long-term legal options, and cross-border support systems. For many families, that planning is not abstract; it is about preserving as many future opportunities and protections as possible during a period of significant uncertainty.

"We are pioneering this model," Montes said. "The clinic is offering holistic representation to migrants in transit in Mexico who are either seeking refugee status in Mexico or who are seeking to come to the United States. In doing so, we're also training future generations of lawyers who are prepared to engage in binational and transnational advocacy."

BMAP's expanding work is supported by the recent appointment of Eduardo Osornio as director of the project's Guadalajara office. Orsonio brings extensive experience in refugee protection and human rights advocacy in Mexico, including senior leadership roles with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the world's oldest refugee agency, and academic clinic leadership focused on refugee representation. His appointment strengthens BMAP's growing cross-border efforts supporting migrants and preparing Loyola students for the future of immigration advocacy during a period of intensifying enforcement, vulnerability for migrant communities, and growing legal need.

In BMAP's Mexico office, consultations focus on supporting clients from Mexico and throughout South and Central America who have returned from the United States and are attempting to rebuild with dignity, information, and support.

"Academics need to analyze immigration policies and speak about what is happening," Osornio said. "Schools have a responsibility to get involved in migration because it is one branch of fighting for social justice."

The partnership with ITESO, a sister Jesuit university for LMU, reflects a shared commitment to social justice and experiential education rooted in the Jesuit tradition.

"ITESO and LMU have long shared a common mission: to advance academic excellence that demands engagement with the world, to use knowledge and creativity to address our most immediate and serious challenges, and to do this with concern for those who are most vulnerable among us - equipping our students, our future leaders, with the tools they need to promote justice and have a meaningful impact," said LLS Dean Brietta R. Clark.

Key support for the project came from Alicia Minana and Rob Lovelace. For the past 30 years, Minana has worked as a Los Angeles attorney while supporting philanthropic efforts focused on human rights issues. Their inaugural gift helped expand BMAP's efforts to train emerging advocates and support migrant communities. Additionally, generous funders including the Daum Family Foundation and the Kebok Foundation have also provided critical support to establish and sustain the work of LIJC and BMAP.