Shawntel Williams, a Filipino American law fellow, is working with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) to create a legal clinic that will support Filipino trafficked victims. She is an Equal Justice Works fellow, and her project is sponsored by Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
According to INQUIRER.net, Williams will work closely with LAFLA’s pro bono partner organizations to provide services for labor trafficking migrants from the Philippines.
The clinic will be held in person and virtually to help empower Filipino migrant workers to gain safety and financial stability. According to LAFLA, the legal clinic will educate the Filipino migrant community on issues including “wage theft, public benefits claims, and immigration relief.”
The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST) states that, in California, thousands of people are forced into labor trafficking every year–and that a significant number of those victims are from the Philippines.
Williams hopes that this trauma-informed legal clinic will help break the barriers that Filipino trafficking victims face every day.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We’re now on BlueSky. You can now keep up with the latest AAPI news there and on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
We are supported by generous donations from our readers and by such charitable foundations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed.
