In a landscape where complex legal statutes and shifting immigration policies can create profound uncertainty, the ability for individuals to understand and assert their fundamental constitutional rights has become more critical than ever. Addressing this pressing need, a university-led initiative is working to demystify the law and empower communities with accessible, reliable knowledge. The Cornell Immigration Legal Information Project, operating through a series of “Know Your Rights” presentations, provides crucial legal information to individuals across the Cornell campus, the surrounding Ithaca community, and beyond, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. This collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort leverages the combined expertise of faculty, librarians, and students to fulfill a core public service mission by transforming complex legal concepts into actionable knowledge for those who need it most.
A Mission Rooted in Community Need
From Observation to Action
The impetus for the project stemmed not from abstract legal theory but from direct observation of the fear and anxiety prevalent within local communities. Law student Sahil Venkatesan ’24 vividly recounted attending an early “Know Your Rights” session where the room was filled with what he described as “incredibly afraid” individuals, the tension palpable. This powerful, humanizing experience proved to be both sobering and inspiring, motivating him to transition from a passive attendee to an active student lead and coordinator for the initiative. His journey exemplifies the project’s core motivation: a human-centered drive to replace fear with knowledge. For the many student volunteers involved, the project offers more than just legal experience; it provides a profound sense of purpose as they work to bring clarity and confidence to immigrant communities navigating a frequently intimidating and confusing legal system, helping individuals understand their options during potentially high-stress encounters with law enforcement.
This commitment to addressing tangible community needs is the very foundation upon which the project was built, recognizing that a lack of accessible information is a significant barrier to justice. The palpable uncertainty that Venkatesan observed is a widespread issue, fueled by a complex web of regulations and an ever-changing political climate that can leave even long-term residents feeling vulnerable. The project operates on the principle that providing clear, accurate information about basic rights is a direct form of legal empowerment. It equips individuals not only with the knowledge of what to say or do during an interaction with authorities but also with the agency to navigate such situations with greater composure. This work is particularly vital for immigrant populations, who may hesitate to seek out formal legal advice due to cost, language barriers, or fear. By bringing the information directly to community hubs, the project breaks down these barriers and fosters a more informed and resilient populace, one presentation at a time.
Leadership and a Guiding Philosophy
The vision and strategic leadership behind the project are central to its success and growing impact. Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, a clinical professor at the Law School and founder of the Immigration Law and Advocacy Clinic, initiated the Cornell Immigration Legal Information Project in January 2025. With crucial funding from the Park Foundation, she established the program specifically to combat the widespread lack of access to reliable legal information that she identified as a critical issue. Kelley-Widmer emphasizes that this initiative directly aligns with Cornell University’s foundational public service mission, extending the institution’s resources and expertise to inform and support communities in need far beyond the campus walls. Her leadership has fostered a robust collaborative framework, bringing together multiple Cornell Law School clinics, including the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic and the Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic, to create a comprehensive and multifaceted educational resource for the public.
A key element of the project’s innovative approach is its deeply interdisciplinary nature, a quality embodied by the essential contributions of Julia Mizutani, a law research librarian and adjunct professor. Mizutani’s involvement demonstrates a sophisticated understanding that effective legal education requires more than just legal expertise; it demands the specialized skills of information professionals who excel at finding, synthesizing, and clearly explaining complex topics to diverse audiences. Her background as a former civil rights attorney with the ACLU further enriches her contribution, blending practical legal experience with a passion for public education. Her guiding philosophy—”Information empowerment is legal empowerment”—has become a core tenet of the initiative. This principle underscores the foundational belief that giving individuals access to accurate knowledge about their rights is not a supplementary service but a fundamental form of legal support, empowering them to become active participants in protecting their own civil liberties.
Expanding Reach Through Empowerment
The “Train the Trainers” Strategy
To effectively meet the high and persistent demand for its services, the project implements a highly scalable and sustainable “train the trainers” model. This strategic approach focuses on multiplying the project’s impact by empowering a broad cohort of volunteers to become knowledgeable presenters. Professor Kelley-Widmer personally leads intensive training sessions for a diverse group that includes community members, law students, and undergraduates from various disciplines. This method equips a new wave of advocates with the necessary information and presentation skills to disseminate this vital knowledge throughout their networks. In its first year of operation alone, this model proved remarkably successful, enabling over 20 law students to step into leadership roles as presenters and providing comprehensive training to more than 100 undergraduate students. This strategy significantly amplifies the project’s overall reach, ensuring that more communities can benefit from the “Know Your Rights” sessions.
The “train the trainers” model yields a powerful dual benefit, simultaneously serving the community and enriching the educational experience of the student volunteers. While community members receive critical, timely information about their constitutional rights, the students involved gain invaluable hands-on experience and direct professional mentorship. Hasham Ali ’25, an undergraduate who serves as an outreach chair for the project, highlighted the immense value of working alongside experienced legal professionals, an opportunity that provides practical skills and insights not typically available in a classroom setting. He also stressed the particular necessity of these sessions for the international student community, who often find themselves navigating a complex and constantly shifting environment of U.S. policy changes. This practical engagement not only prepares students for future careers in law and public service but also instills a deep sense of civic responsibility and a firsthand understanding of the real-world impact of legal advocacy.
Widespread Community Outreach
The project’s impact is characterized by its extensive and geographically diverse outreach, ensuring that its vital message reaches a wide array of audiences. To date, the dedicated team has successfully conducted over 40 distinct “Know Your Rights” sessions, tailored to the specific needs of various groups. This outreach extends across the Cornell ecosystem, with presentations held for organizations on the Ithaca campus and for medical professionals and staff at Weill Cornell Medicine. Beyond the university, the project has established strong community partnerships, delivering sessions for local businesses, church congregations, and a variety of community organizations throughout the region. The initiative has also become a valuable resource for other higher-education institutions, sharing its expertise with students and faculty at Alfred University, Bard College, Ithaca College, and several SUNY campuses, demonstrating a commitment to fostering a broad culture of legal awareness.
Significantly, the project directs a substantial portion of its efforts toward serving some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. A critical component of its mission involves holding legal information sessions for individuals detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center. This work is particularly impactful, as it provides essential knowledge to people who are navigating the immigration system from a position of profound disadvantage, often with limited access to legal counsel or external resources. By bringing information directly to these individuals, the project offers a measure of agency and clarity in a highly stressful and uncertain environment. This commitment to reaching marginalized groups underscores the project’s deep-seated goal of ensuring that knowledge of constitutional rights is not a privilege but a universal tool accessible to all, regardless of their circumstances or location.
Fostering Agency and Collective Support
Throughout all its presentations, the project team consistently maintains a nuanced and realistic perspective, carefully managing expectations while providing empowering information. Julia Mizutani candidly acknowledged that simply knowing one’s rights does not serve as an infallible shield or a guarantee that law enforcement officials will always respect them. However, she stressed that this knowledge is a crucial tool that provides individuals with critical options during a tense encounter. Understanding when one can remain silent, refuse a search, or ask for an attorney can significantly alter the outcome of an interaction. This information helps individuals manage the panic that can arise in such high-stress moments, fostering a sense of agency and control. This pragmatic approach, which balances the power of knowledge with an awareness of real-world complexities, is a cornerstone of the project’s credibility and effectiveness, as it equipped participants with practical strategies rather than false assurances.
Ultimately, the project’s philosophy extended beyond individual empowerment to champion the collective power of an informed community. The presentations emphasized that when people are knowledgeable about their rights, they are positioned not only to protect themselves but also to support and safeguard the rights of their loved ones, friends, and neighbors. This focus on mutual support helped foster a culture of awareness and solidarity, transforming a room of individuals into a network of potential advocates. By training a new generation of students and community members to become knowledgeable resources, the project successfully established a sustainable framework for public legal education. This effort fulfilled a core aspect of the university’s public service mission by building lasting community resilience and ensuring that the crucial knowledge of constitutional rights would continue to be shared and upheld.
