The Human Rights Clinic (HRC) is an asylum clinic at Denver Health that provides low cost medical and mental health forensic evaluations and directly collaborates with attorneys representing individuals applying for asylum and other legal statuses in Colorado.
Representing attorneys use findings from these Forensic evaluations to provide “objective documentation of… physical and psychological injuries and trauma. This documentation becomes evidence that can corroborate the asylum seeker’s narrative of persecution.”
One study showed that, among individuals who had a forensic examination bolstering their immigration case between 2000-2004, the asylum grant rate was 89% compared to the national average asylum grant rate of 37.5% during that time period.
How it Works
- Legal partners refer individuals applying for asylum and other legal statuses to HRC for forensic evaluations.
- Denver Health is a unique health system that provides sliding scale health care for patients, irrespective of legal status. HRC systematically enrolls qualifying patients in Denver Health’s Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) or Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP) to allow them access to HRC services and linkage to a primary care physician and ongoing care.
- Volunteer medical and mental health providers conduct forensic evaluations at Denver Health and at the GEO Immigration Detention Facility in Aurora. Then, evaluators write up their findings in the form of an affidavit, a legal document used by attorneys in court proceedings.