Elder law students and others assist Haitians
Students from the University of Miami School of Law’s Health & Elder Law Clinic and Florida International University are hosting other Spring Breakers from around the country who want to help Haitians gain Temporary Protected Status. This allows Haitians in the United States prior to the Jan. 12 earthquake to work and remain here legally. The two Miami-based universities are working with students from Yale, Fordham, the University of Minnesota and City University of New York. UM and FIU students have been working on this project since shortly after the earthquake. “As soon as word got out that we were working on Haitian TPS, law schools from around the country started calling to volunteer over Spring Break. It was very inspiring,” said Melissa Swain, a supervising attorney at the UM clinic, who has coordinated much of the Spring Break programming. After training, visiting students will be paired with Creole-speaking interpreters drawn from an FIU-created database.