Mudassar Toppa

Mudassar will join the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) Project housed at CUNY School of Law.His fellowship will focus on providing legal representation, supporting movements and communities, and pursuing litigation on behalf of U.S. Muslims and all other constituencies that are targeted by government agencies under the guise of “national security” and “counterterrorism.” This will include working with and providing legal representation to immigrants who are facing pretextual delays or denials in their immigration applications. A native New Yorker, Mudassar graduated from Queens College and CUNY School of Law, where he was a member of the law review, moot court, and a treasurer for the Muslim Law Students Association. As a member of CUNY School of Law’s Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic, Mudassar represented individuals incarcerated at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. During the course of that work, he collaborated on the researching, drafting, and editing of a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also represented a client in deportation proceedings where he helped research appeals and co-prepared applications for relief in immigration court. As a student attorney in CLEAR, Mudassar facilitated several Know Your Rights workshops throughout the NYC area, prepared immigration benefits applications, submitted Freedom of Information Act requests, represented clients approached for questioning by the FBI, and collaborated on a project to analyze and document travel difficulties for watchlisted clients.

Fellowship type: Justice Catalyst

Organization: Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) Project

Project name: Challenging the Security State