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The Clinic: Migration

The Migration clinic allows students to participate in the activities of NGOs and other actors supporting migrants in France. With the intensification of conflicts in the Middle East, migrants face an unprecedented crisis in the European Union Member States. As multiple debates and reforms are developing around ideas of better managing “migratory flows” and better fighting against illegal immigration, civil society, NGOs and students seek for solutions to the multiple “border situations” faced by migrants.

The Migration clinic addresses cutting-edge issues related to the situation of migrants in France through a number of projects. It allows students to gain a rich and complex understanding of immigration law through practice. It also aims at developing or consolidating students’ critical thinking in a context in which political, legal and social discourses contribute to the production of an image of migrants as “threats” or as “undesirables”.

For more information about the Migration clinic programme in French.

Pedagogical team

The Migration clinic programme is taught in French and coordinated by:

  • Camille Escullié, lecturer
  • Nicolas Hervieu, lecturer
  • Bastien Charaudeau Santomauro, Migration clinic coordinator and tutor
  • Adrien Cabantous, coordination assistant and tutor
  • Vincent Chetail, lecturer of the required Migration course 
  • Jill Alpes, tutor 
  • Louise-Anne Baudrier, tutor 
  • Cécile Damas Artigaud, tutor 
  • Anne-Laure Lacoste, tutor 
  • Yacine Mousli, tutor

Projets 2024-2025

To receive support from Child Welfare Services, unaccompanied and foreign minors must have their status as minors officially recognized through an evaluation conducted by the Department. If deemed ineligible, they can appeal the decision. However, as the appeal process is non-suspensive, these young individuals are denied access to child welfare services during this period. Many are consequently forced to live in encampments for exiled individuals in Paris. In response to the growing number of these vulnerable youth, the City of Paris launched a dedicated Day Reception Center in February 2024, managed by the FADS. This initiative aims to document their living conditions, assess their needs, and contextualize these findings in relation to their legal status. The project will support the partner organization's advocacy efforts and help raise awareness of the challenges faced by these young exiles.

  • Partner: Fondation de l'Armée du Salut (FAS)
  • Tutors: Louise-Anne Baudrier and Cécile Damas Artigaud

L’Assfam is an organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of foreign individuals. Its team offers administrative support services to foreigners referred by the city of Paris, helping to facilitate the process of securing their rights. Through their involvement in these services, Sciences Po students will provide legal assistance to social workers, notably through consultations, procedural guides, and letter templates. By the end of the year, their research will contribute to a report aimed at shedding light on the legal challenges associated with supporting foreign individuals.

  • Partner: ASSFAM GROUPE SOS SOLIDARITES
  • Tutor: Adrien Cabantous 

ARDHIS is an association recognized for its support for LGBTI+ people in their asylum applications. The project aims to introduce students to how the association works, by attending several internal sessions on the asylum procedure and by participating in reception services. At the same time, students have to draft files on the four main countries from which asylum seekers accompanied by ARDHIS come (Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, DRC and Senegal). These documents, for the volunteers, are intended to constitute a complete and up-to-date documentary resource to support LGBTI+ asylum seekers, taking into account the specific situations in each of the countries studied.

  • Partner: ARDHIS
  • Tutor: Anne-Laure Lacoste

Basiliade is an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting and welcoming the most vulnerable individuals facing illness, exclusion, and hardship. In response to the rising number of refusals for first-time and renewal residence permit applications for medical care, this project aims to conduct a critical assessment of access to healthcare in Côte d'Ivoire. The students’ work involves analyzing the relevant legal framework and administrative practices in France, alongside conducting field research in Côte d'Ivoire.

  • Partner: Association Basiliade
  • Tutors: Yacine Mousli and Cécile Damas Artigaud

Intérêt à Agir develops tools for social workers in Mayotte, focusing on immigration law, asylum rights, and social rights for foreign nationals. In light of the new bill seeking to restrict access to French nationality in Mayotte, students in the legal clinic will undertake two key tasks:

  1. Drafting an “external contribution” memo assessing the constitutionality of the proposed law, with a view to a potential referral to the Constitutional Council.
  2. Creating a “fact-checking” report to correct misinformation circulated in the media regarding immigration law in Mayotte and to provide scientifically grounded arguments on policy management in the territory.

This project aims to offer rigorous legal expertise and contribute to the public debate through objective, well-documented analysis.

  • Partner: Intérêt à Agir 
  • Tutor: Jill Alpes 

Past projects