Innovating for Immigrant Justice: A Conversation About the Future of Immigrant Legal Technology & Community Empowerment

On Thursday November 9th, 2023, Justicia Lab, Pro Bono Net’s immigrant justice incubator, convened immigrant advocates, legal technologists and philanthropic partners for a conversation on the future of immigrant legal technology and immigrant community empowerment. The panel conversation, moderated by KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero, included participation from Justicia Lab’s Rodrigo Camarena, FWD.Us’ Kenzi Laceste, Denia Pérez of Immigrants Rising, and Jeffery O’Brien of Mobile Pathways. The conversation was held at Google.org’s Community Space in downtown San Francisco.

After opening remarks from Pro Bono Net’s Program Director Liz Keith, the panelists gave an overview of the work and impact of their respective organizations as well as discussion of the ongoing challenges faced by immigrants trying to navigate our immigration legal system.

Among the challenges mentioned were concerns over the rapid-digitization of immigration legal services by USCIS, a lack of digital literacy among immigrant arrivals, and the lack of resources among immigrant advocates and legal aid providers to adapt to these obstacles.

The panel also discussed concerns and potential opportunities around the use of Generative AI, text-to-voice technologies, and explored potential areas for collaboration among creators or immigrant legal technology solutions.

You can view a full recording of our panel discussion here.

Thank you to the team at Google.org and all of the event organizers, participants, and audience members for joining us for this important conversation!