Meet our Summer 2024 cohort of Elizabeth Frankel Fellows
Aaron Rodriguez
Aaron is a rising third-year law student at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Before entering law school, Aaron held an AmeriCorps position at a Chicago high school teaching math for two years. In his time at law school, he’s worked to bring awareness to the needs of the immigrant communities in Cleveland through his work with student organizations and nonprofit organizations in the area. Since last summer, Aaron has worked as a law clerk at Asian Services in Action: ASIA, Inc., where he helps provide immigration, victims’ rights representation, and family legal services. Currently, Aaron is part of the Human Trafficking Practicum where he works with a local nonprofit focused on helping immigrants and people with HIV to promote their livelihoods by helping with housing, expungements, immigration, and domestic violence issues.
“My passion for working with immigrant communities comes from my personal experiences growing up on the border. From a young age, I’ve been attuned to the injustices that face these communities. As I move forward in my career, I plan on helping immigrants with whatever I can because their lives don’t stop once they are through the immigration process.”
Carola Aisenberg
Carola is a rising second-year law student at the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC). Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carola immigrated to Houston, Texas with her family at a young age. Carola’s personal connection to immigration law strengthened her passion to advocate for immigrant communities. Carola interpreted forensic psychological evaluations for clients seeking asylum, U Visa, and VAWA status in the UHLC Immigration Clinic, where she further developed the skill of working through a trauma-informed lens. Additionally, Carola worked as a legal assistant at Suárez Candler Law, an immigration law firm in Houston, where she learned foundational legal skills, as well as improved her cultural competency.
“The immigrant experience is an arduous but rewarding one. We consist of different accents, foods, traditions, and stories, and none of us deserve to feel unwanted, unsafe, or the need to abandon our culture in search of safety. In leaving behind everything to give me better opportunities, my parents instilled in me the idea of “paying it forward.” As an immigrant myself, I am driven to pay it forward and dedicate my time to helping immigrant communities and embracing every client that comes along the way.”
Fatima Salinas
Fatima is a rising third-year student at Baylor University School of Law. As a Children’s Team Legal Fellow for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, Fatima assisted legal staff by providing services to noncitizen children in the Rio Grande Valley community. Fatima has also interned for American Gateways, where she supported the organization’s mission to champion the dignity and human rights of immigrants, refugees, and survivors by assisting in community outreach and legal services, with a focus on crime victim cases, removal defense asylum work, and family-based petitions. Fatima aspires to continue her work in advocating and empowering the immigrant community through the Elizabeth Frankel Fellowship.
“My experiences as an immigrant and the complexity of belonging to two different cultures have driven my desire to be an ally and advocate for the immigrant community. Working with the Young Center this summer will allow me to keep pursuing this passion by protecting and advancing the best interests of unaccompanied children.”
About Elizabeth M. Frankel
Elizabeth M. Frankel (1977-2021) was the first Associate Director of the Young Center. She joined the Young Center in late 2009, as one of three full-time employees, becoming part of a trio of attorneys in Chicago who would develop and implement an entirely new model for advocating for the rights of immigrant children and youth. Today the Young Center has eight offices across the country with more than 110 staff. Liz was involved in the creation and development of each and every office. From 2009 to 2015, Liz taught in the Immigrant Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. She loved mentoring law students and helping them develop their skills to pursue careers in public interest law or take pro bono cases.
About the Elizabeth Frankel Fellowship Program
The Fellowship will enable fellows to spend 10 weeks training to zealously advocate for children, and to carry on Liz’s vision of honoring the child’s wishes through careful, strategic advocacy. The Fellows will serve as Child Advocates for individual children, and will also conduct legal research and writing under the guidance of Young Center staff within the Child Advocate Program. Fellows will be based in Houston and have the opportunity to spend a week of the Fellowship Program in the Young Center’s Harlingen, TX office to understand how immigration patterns, enforcement, and advocacy play out on the ground along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2022, the Young Center announced its first annual Elizabeth Frankel Fellowship. You can read more about the fellows here. Fellows receive a stipend of $10,000 for 10 weeks. The Fellowship is open to law students who are rising 2L’s or 3L’s. Preferred qualifications: lived experience and knowledge that lends insight into supporting immigrant children and their families, and bilingual in Spanish and English (oral and written). Additional consideration will be given to law students whose circumstances might prevent them from engaging in pro bono work during the summer.
WITH GRATITUDE TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF
The members of Liz Frankel’s family, Joan and Michael Frankel, Thomas and Katie Kasa, Sarah Frankel and Ben Kroger, Jonathan Frankel and Katherine Hunsberger as well as the many donors who have contributed to the Young Center’s Elizabeth Frankel Fellowship fund:
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