After crossing the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border with her family in 1997, an undocumented woman now living in Michigan said she hoped to escape the violence and poverty in Mexico and establish a new life in the United States.

“We came here because the violence was starting to get out of hand, and we were really poor down in Mexico,” the woman, who requested anonymity, said. “Sometimes we didn’t have any food. My mom worked two jobs, my dad worked two jobs and we were barely making any money.”

But when the woman’s family members were arrested in Michigan as a result of their undocumented immigration status last November, she faced the possibility of deportation and turned to the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Ann Arbor for legal aid.

The MIRC is part of the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Poverty Law Program — a partnership between the University of Michigan Law School and the Legal Services of South Central Michigan — which offers free legal services to individuals like the undocumented women from Mexico. Services include legal consultation on issues such as foreclosure, immigration rights, family law, consumer law and elder law.

The MIRC has been part of the program for several years, according to Carolyn Krieger, an attorney in the clinic who worked with the undocumented woman. Krieger is an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal fellow and one of the two fellows in the MIRC.

Lorray Brown, co-manager and consumer law attorney of MPLP, said the poverty law clinic — which began in 1997 — receives federal funding to provide pro bono legal services to underprivileged populations. MPLP clients must meet an income eligibility guideline and have an income that falls below the national poverty threshold.

“We're providing the same kind of services that a general law firm would, except the service is for free, so poor people can come to us and be able to get good representation," Brown said.

The program also handles cases involving systemic issues that have a broader impact on certain communities, Brown said.

“We wouldn’t necessarily represent the individual person or run into court to stop an eviction, but if there’s a policy or they’re shutting down an entire rental unit of an entire subsidized apartment building because of some bad policy, we would get involved in it because the decision would result in very broad impacts,” Brown said.

There are about similar programs similar to the MPLP located throughout Michigan. Brown said the Ann Arbor office provides resources and support for other field programs, which include training, research and litigation support.

Krieger said she operates a project in the Ann Arbor office that works specifically with immigrants who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. Krieger said she helps her clients to pursue U Visas, which she said are for “undocumented victims of crimes who are cooperative with the police.”

Krieger said she also handles cases involving issues with the Violence Against Women Act for instances in which women typically would petition to gain legal status but are unable to do so because of abuse.

“It gives the abuse victim a path to basically petition for herself and get herself a Green Card,” Krieger said.

The MIRC also allows Law School students to volunteer in the center to gain knowledge and experience with immigration law.

Katie Kersh, a first-year Law School student, has been volunteering at the MIRC this semester. She said she decided to go to law school because she wants to pursue a legal career dealing with immigration issues.

To prepare for her future work as a lawyer, Kersh works with Krieger in the office and assists clients in the process of filing applications for U Visas.

“By helping (clients) with the process, they can feel safe and also they can not worry about their abuser because they’re helping to put him in jail,” Kersh said.