Immigrants seeking asylum in the United States face daunting odds. An overwhelming majority are returned to their country of origin, their petitions for asylum denied.
But for asylum seekers matched with pro bono services鈥攍egal representation and forensic medical and psychological clinics鈥攖he odds change dramatically. With support, more than 90 percent succeed in their applications.
The difference comes down to the work of volunteers like Michael O鈥橪oughlin, PhD, a practicing clinical psychologist and a professor in both the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education and the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology. He first began volunteering with one such service provider, HealthRight International, in 2006, conducting forensic psychological evaluations of asylum seekers. 鈥淎 colleague at Adelphi referred me, and I signed up for training myself,鈥� Dr. O鈥橪oughlin said. 鈥淚 really found the work valuable and I鈥檝e been doing it ever since.鈥�
鈥淏asically, the essential work is this,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 am a psychologist, I have to take the psychological knowledge and turn it into legal fact. You鈥檙e breaking it down so that an attorney and a judge who know nothing about psychology can read it and say, 鈥橭h, this makes a case.鈥欌��
To do this, Dr. O鈥橪oughlin and clinicians like him start with in-depth interviews, eliciting detailed life histories, beginning with the first instance of the persecution that led the asylum seeker to flee their country. They then ask for specific examples of distress that might support a clinical diagnosis, most often post-traumatic stress disorder. They also make careful clinical observations 鈥� body language and physical responses to the interview 鈥� documenting everything to verify whether or not it aligns with the story being told. The clinician then turns the interview into a detailed affidavit, their sworn testimony as an expert witness.
Training the Next Generation of Clinicians
鈥淔or many years I did typically half a dozen a year, so I鈥檝e done 70 or so evaluations,鈥� Dr. O鈥橪oughlin said. 鈥淎fter a few years I graduated to being a trainer.鈥� Soon enough, he approached HealthRight with another idea. What if he worked with the organization to train not just licensed clinicians but also doctoral students? Just as many law schools have legal immigration clinics, the Derner School could have a psychological immigration clinic.
鈥淎t first HealthRight said, we don鈥檛 think we can get students to do this,鈥� Dr. O鈥橪oughlin said. 鈥淭he courts want licensed professionals. And I said, talk to your attorneys, let鈥檚 see what we can do. They came back and said, let鈥檚 give it a try.鈥�
That was how the Adelphi Asylum Project came into being in 2017. Since then, doctoral students at Adelphi have conducted more than 80 evaluations for asylum seekers.
Through a grant to support services for immigrants on Long Island, the William E. & Maude S. Pritchard Charitable Trust generously provides a financial gift for each interview doctoral students conduct鈥攁 nominal amount, but one that is meaningful for many students.
As with everything, the work has been affected by the pandemic. 鈥淓verything switched to Zoom,鈥� Dr. O鈥橪oughlin said. 鈥淪o we not only have to train people on Zoom, we have to train people through Zoom to work on Zoom.鈥� But he and his colleagues managed the switch, leading HealthRight鈥檚 first entirely virtual training last November, hosted by Adelphi. The training, supported by the Pritchard Charitable Trust, resulted in 27 new clinicians, including Adelphi doctoral students, joining the volunteer network.
Several years ago Dr. O鈥橪oughlin added another dimension to the work, partnering with Adelphi鈥檚 Spanish department to train undergraduates earning their certificates in interpretation and translation to serve as interpreters for the evaluation interviews.
Rich Personal Meaning for Students
The personal rewards are the greatest draw for doctoral students as well. 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 important to give back and support others through the immigration process, which is, more often than not, unforgiving and retraumatizing,鈥� said Mariam Khalil Rahman, a fourth-year clinical psychology PhD student at Derner. She completed her HealthRight training in October 2019 and began interviewing asylum seekers in the spring of 2020. 鈥淚n every evaluation I have completed, the client has moved mountains beyond mountains to be given a chance for a safer and brighter future.鈥�
The work has been especially meaningful for her, she said, because her father is a political refugee from Bangladesh. 鈥淭he decision to grant my father asylum has had a major impact on our family and I wouldn鈥檛 be where I am without it.鈥�
For Dr. O鈥橪oughlin, the work with his students has been deeply rewarding, and his interest in migration has become part of his academic work, with two related publications in just the past year. But above all, it鈥檚 about the individuals he helps. 鈥淢any of the people, if returned to their countries, are attacked and killed by the forces that drove them out in the first place,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really the essence of the work. It鈥檚 about saving lives.鈥�