Posted by 
By: Serena Brahaspat ’25
This summer, I had the privilege to work with Journey’s End Refugee’s Services in Buffalo, New York. Journey’s End is a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to asylum seekers and refugees in the Buffalo area. With funding from the 2023 Francis M. Letro ’79 & Cindy Abbott Letro Fellowship, I was able to intern full-time with the attorneys at Journey’s End.
As a first-generation student of color, I have witnessed first-hand the difficulties that immigrants encounter. That strife is shared amongst members of my own family. I knew prior to my internship that I was interested in immigration law because of this personal connection, but after working with the Journey’s End team of attorneys, and their diverse clients, I felt as though I had found my calling. My summer internship was incredibly valuable because I learned so much about an area of immigration law that went beyond the textbook.
During the summer, I had the opportunity to work with individuals who were paroled into the United States from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in 2021. I had the opportunity to sit in on client consultations, assisted clients directly with their asylum applications, meticulously research country-conditions in support of their asylum claims, and on more than one occasion, provided a comforting presence for them to let their guard down with. Within my first week at Journey’s End, I became increasingly aware of the importance and significance of the attorney-client relationship. I had the opportunity to view the legal perspective, in terms of determining whether there was any legal action to take, but I also got to interact with clients in an informal setting because I was just an intern. The clients that Journey’s End works with have gone through some of the most traumatic incidents imaginable. They leave their home country not because they want to, but because they must.
Every applicant that files for asylum in the United States does so because they have a legitimate fear for their lives. Within my first week of my internship, I learned that there are five elements in which an asylum seeker must demonstrate that they have previously been persecuted for or have a fear of persecution in their home country: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The asylum application is available online at the USCIS website, and while it may seem like an ordinary form to native English speakers, that is obviously not the reality for clients who do not speak or read English. The asylum process can be a tedious and an altogether worrisome stretch of time for asylum seekers in the United States.
I commend the team at Journey’s End for all of their hard work and dedication to helping asylum seekers and refugees in the United States. It is not an easy job, and sometimes a legal consultation can sound quite similar to a therapy session, but it is so necessary to treat these individuals with care and kindness as we would our own friends or neighbors. One of the glaring facts that I learned this summer was that there are simply not enough immigration lawyers for the volume of cases that exist within the system. I am honored to have to worked with Journey’s End this past summer, it was an unconventional learning experience, but I would 10/10 do it again.
Finally, I would like to thank UB Law fellowships for offering me the 2023 Francis M. Letro ’79 & Cindy Abbott Letro Fellowship award. Without this fellowship, I would not have had the opportunity to intern full-time with the Journey’s End team nor meet some of the most resilient people from countries like Afghanistan, Mauritania, and Venezuela.
Name: Serena Brahaspat ’25
Fellowship: 2023 Francis M. Letro ’79 & Cindy Abbott Letro Fellowship
Placement: Journey’s End Refugees Services
Location: Buffalo, New York
One important lesson I have learned from this fellowship: “No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land. We need to be more sympathetic towards migrants who are fleeing their home countries instead of treating them like criminals. The threat of persecution can happen to anyone, anywhere, even here in the United States. Asylum rights are human rights.”
UB School of Law Responds 