November’s NLG Happy Hour was lead by Mario Paredes. As the Bart J. Gordon Fellow/Staff Attorney at Mass Law Reform Institute and Prisoners’ Legal Services, Mario Paredes was able to create his dream job combining his interest in immigrant rights, his legal skills, and his desire to engage with community activists. Beginning his work, Mario is assessing the needs of immigrant detainees in the three Massachusetts ICE-contracted detention centers. Meeting with immigration attorneys, advocates, activists, and former detainees, and hearing the reports from the calls from current detainees, Mario is working on how to address the most pressing issues, from medical neglect, language access, attorney/client access and privacy, religious freedom, unsafe conditions, retaliatory transfers, solitary confinement, etc. We brainstormed with Mario about how NLG chapter members might work together with him.
Photos by Urszula Masny-Latos
