Immigrants in Saint Louis and across the country face an increasingly harsh immigration landscape. Immigration agencies have paused adjudication of approvable applications, expanded the grounds for denials, and made detention a routine part of many immigration processes. Despite these obstacles, the Immigration Law Clinic (ILC) continues to fight for its clients’ abilities to live safely and legally in the U.S. through traditional applications like asylum and family-based visas. But they haven’t stopped there. ILC student attorneys are getting creative and are simultaneously pursuing alternative avenues, when possible.
One example is the clinic’s recent representation of two families in a lesser-known path to permanent residency known as Military Parole in Place, or MIL-PIP for short. The clinic is pursuing this path thanks to two student attorneys’ willingness to listen to their clients and learn new areas of the law.
In January 2026, WashU Law 2Ls Rachael Behling and Dylan Maya-Tudor held their first meeting with a client family. Going into the meeting, Rachael and Dylan knew their client was on a long and complicated journey to obtain a green card, based upon an approved visa petition filed by his US citizen wife. Despite having a U.S. citizen wife and children, he could not apply for a green card from within the U.S. He would have to leave the U.S. to apply for the visa and, once he left the U.S., he would be barred from obtaining a visa for ten years due to his time as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. Rachael and Dylan planned to meet with their client to finalize an application to waive their client’s 10-year bar and let him return to the U.S. after obtaining a visa. These wavier applications take years to be adjudicated and, even if successful, their client would still have to leave the U.S. to apply for the waiver.
During the meeting, Rachael and Dylan learned that their client’s adult son had joined the US military. Their client asked if this might give him an easier path to Lawful Permanent Residence. Rachael and Dylan did not dismiss their client’s question and, instead, took the imitative to research the question before consulting their supervising attorneys. Their research led them to MIL-PIP, a program that allows spouses and parents of US military members and veterans to apply for a green card without having to first leave the US and risk being barred for ten years. The purpose of the MilPip program is to allow active-duty U.S. military members to focus on their military service, instead of worrying about their spouse or parent being deported while they are serving.
This was the first MIL-PIP case handled by the clinic. So, Rachael and Dylan diligently researched every aspect of the process. They read government websites, looked at community forums on Reddit, watched YouTube videos, and searched for sample cover letters and exhibit lists. The also met with WashU Law Veterans’ Law Clinic director Cormac Smith to better understand the relevant military procedures and documents for the case.
Thanks to Rachael and Dylan’s excellent research and the templates and resources they created, the ILC was able to quickly complete two additional MIL-PIP applications over the summer. The ILC is excited to expand its expertise and add this option for clients who might qualify.
The student attorney experience, in their own words:
“This experience taught me the importance of holding our plans flexibly to ensure that at every step we are doing what is in our client’s best interests. With this new application process, we had the opportunity to learn about Military Parole in Place alongside our supervising attorneys, develop resources for future applications through the clinic, and work collaboratively with our clients to quickly gather materials to submit the application. It was so gratifying to be able to see this process from the beginning to the application submission!” – Rachael Behling, JD candidate May 2027
“I greatly enjoyed getting to be a part of something new at the clinic and felt a real sense of pride as we accomplished each step in the process from undertaking our initial research to finally getting to print out and organize our completed forms, letters of support, and even family photos as we prepared to submit the application.” – Dylan Maya-Tudor, JD candidate May 2027
