Written by: Karla Madera Tejada, Law and Policy Intern
My internship experience as a Law and Policy Intern for the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute (“Institute”) and Im/migrant Well-Being Collaborative (“Collaborative”) has been one of growth, innovation, and inspiration. From assisting with research to conducting my own and publishing opinion pieces, this internship has allowed me to achieve things I never thought I could.
In my first few weeks, I conducted research related to certain immigration topics by reading articles and reports, writing summaries, and presenting my findings to my supervisor, Thomas J. Rachko. Furthermore, with my previous experience working on Capitol Hill, I drafted a report of potential offices for collaboration. I also attended a press conference, hosted by Value Our Families in collaboration with Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA 28), where the speakers discussed the reintroduction of the Reuniting Families Act. This landmark bill would help almost four million people caught in family immigration backlogs to reunite with their families. That briefing was just the beginning of many others I would later attend about the issues of our immigration system and the lack of legislative action for them.
As I became more familiar with the work at the Institute and the Collaborative, I co-authored an opinion piece published in Maryland Matters, discussing Maryland’s Healthy Babies Equity Act, which provides comprehensive health care coverage to pregnant people regardless of immigration status. Later, I conducted my own research into predatory immigration bond companies after drawing inspiration from Collaborative Scholar Affiliate and 2023-24 Policy Fellow Dr. Lorena Avila’s paper, An Expensive Pass to Freedom: Bond Amount Trajectories in Immigration Court. As a result of my research, I wrote an informative Q&A report that summarized all my findings, which was included in the At the Border and Beyond: Research-Informed Approaches to Advance Immigrant Well-Being briefing.
Further into my internship, I collaborated with the Acacia Center for Justice to discuss “legal deserts,” geographical areas lacking legal resources, and the struggles that unaccompanied minors face while navigating the U.S. immigration system. In my last few weeks in the internship, I wrote blog posts about important immigration issues, ranging from Biden’s executive order on asylum and its potential impacts for immigrant well-being to the stances of presidential candidates on immigration. Finally, I turned one of my blog posts into an opinion piece and was encouraged to publish it in a newspaper. With the support of my supervisors, my piece was published in The Baltimore Sun.
Overall, this was a transformative experience that has pushed me to grow and rethink my capabilities. I am forever grateful for the opportunities and support I received from my time here, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
Karla Madera Tejada is a recent graduate of The George Washington University, where she majored in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Her areas of expertise include immigration law research and policy, with a focus on the complexities and challenges of the U.S. immigration system. Karla's views are her own and not necessarily reflective of the Cisneros Institute.