Forensic Evaluation
Forensic Evaluation Clinic
Our clients are seeking asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection, such as special programs available for victims of crimes that occurred in the U.S. as well as survivors of trafficking or intimate partner violence perpetrated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
After HEAL completes the forensic evaluations, a legal affidavit is written, which outlines the findings from the client interviews and examinations.
HEAL provides access to pro bono forensic medical-legal evaluations to clients in the Baltimore area and beyond.
Forensic evaluations document a client’s history of torture, persecution, or other ill treatment that may corroborate their claim for legal protection.
Forensic evaluations hold a great deal of weight in immigration court. Clients who submit evaluations are much more likely to be granted asylum or other types of immigration relief.
A 2021 study co-sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights found that immigrants who obtained forensic evaluations were granted protection at nearly twice the national asylum grant rate.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) is a “global legal aid and advocacy organization working to create a world where refugees and all people seeking safety are empowered to claim their right to freedom of movement and a path to lasting refuge.”
Beginning in 2016-17 many policies were introduced to limit migrants’ ability to seek asylum in the U.S., particularly those presenting to the U.S.-Mexico border. Since then, IRAP has been working with organizational partners in the U.S. and abroad to support especially vulnerable clients in obtaining exemptions from these policies so they may enter the U.S. to seek humanitarian protection.
Border/Critical Access Partnership
With funding from the Center of the Study of Democratic Institutions, HEAL Refugee Health & Asylum Collaborative has partnered with IRAP since August 2020 to provide cross-border clinical evaluations for clients in Mexico and elsewhere being supported and/or represented by IRAP. HEAL also provides remote critical access evaluations to IRAP clients living in underserved areas in the United States.