Third-year law students Josh Lacoste and Elisabeth Crusey and second-year law student Chris Ostertag helped a young Uyghur Muslim from China who came to the United States for college with her application for asylum. According to the Uyghur Human Rights Project, there are approximately 500 to 1,000 Uyghurs in the U.S. asylum system, some having waited upwards of eight years for resolutions to their cases.
The need for resolution is significant. Uyghurs in China, including this young woman’s family, are subjected to social ostracization, interrogation, and imprisonment in detention camps simply for being Uyghur. She has good reason to fear being sent to a camp if she returns to China; on her most recent trip home, she was interrogated by Chinese police and held for hours simply because she is Uyghur and had spent time in the United States. Her situation is so challenging we cannot identify her for fear of reprisal.
Student fellows from Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic helped research asylum law and country conditions in China, prepared materials supporting her application, and met personally with her to help her prepare for the interview. Josh Lacoste and John Meiser, the Religious Liberty Clinic’s managing director for domestic litigation, accompanied her to the asylum interview.
In February of this year, the Religious Liberty Clinic filed an amicus brief in support of a criminal complaint that the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur Human Rights Project filed against China for genocide to bring awareness to and encourage action to end the atrocities committed against Uyghurs by the Chinese government.
Members of the Order of St. Thomas More protect religious freedom worldwide by empowering the mission-driven legal education at Notre Dame. Read more about how Notre Dame Law Students defend religious freedom internationally ›