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Mackenzie's PresentationIn her professional career, Mackenzie wants to address the lack of fundamental human rights afforded those with undocumented immigrant or refugee status within the United States. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s August 2016 report, an estimated 17,000 to 19,000 individuals are trafficked into the U.S. each year for economic purposes. Furthermore, those that are not trafficked are often lured into economic exploitation upon arrival. This country benefits from the large number of people who work for low wages, no benefits, and no security, while simultaneously barring those same individuals from upward mobility or humanitarian relief. This negatively affects access to a quality life for millions of people living within the United States.
Many immigrants in the United States face structural inequalities that range from a lack of access to higher education, equal pay, and healthcare, to more intangible forms of social discrimination like the erasure of political opinions and voices in the political spectrum. Many of these individuals also have decreased access to legal services, services that are crucial to maintaining legal practices and civil liberties within the US. |
Based on these large scale inequities, an immigration clinic called Project Laura was formed here in Boise by JD Nicole Derden. Project Laura is focused on providing access to legal services for Spanish-speaking immigrants within the United States. Mackenzie has had the opportunity to work as a student interpreter for Project Laura, and has seen the amazing impact that equal access to legal services can have.
About Mackenzie
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Mackenzie is an undergraduate student at Boise State University who is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work. She plans to achieve her Bachelor's in Social Work, then her Master's in Social Work, and eventually plans to attend law school. In the long-term, she plans to become an immigration lawyer, and dedicate her professional career to working with clients, and structurally changing large scale inequities withthin the immigration system in the United States.
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