Briana Ong ’19: Immigration Attorney goes Full Circle with Service Learning for Saints

A meaningful internship at Emmanuel helped Attorney Briana Ong ’19 identify her ideal career path. Now she’s creating similar opportunities for fellow Saints through a service-learning collaboration with the College.

Ong is an attorney with the De Novo Center for Justice and Healing, a Cambridge-based nonprofit that provides legal representation for economically disadvantaged immigrants. It’s a challenging field; where the wait times for clients are routinely a decade, but they have a short window of time to build a case once the system is set in motion. 

Volunteers are critical to De Novo’s ability to provide that support. Through Ong’s Emmanuel connections, 13 history students from the College are using skills they learned in the classroom to provide research for life-changing cases.  As someone who knows firsthand how impactful those experiences can be, Ong said the collaboration means a lot.  

“My time at Emmanuel showed me that seeking mentorship from professors and other professionals can be so powerful for a student, so now being in a position that I can provide that same experience for current students, is not only a full-circle moment, but also an incredible honor,” said Ong. 

The service-learning is with students from the HIST 3404 East Asian Migration and Diaspora in Global Perspective class, which is taught by Associate Professor of History Dr.  Violetta Ravagnoli. She was Ong’s faculty advisor at Emmanuel, and they reconnected earlier this year, after Dr. Ravagnoli wrote a letter of recommendation for a Saint who wanted to intern at De Novo. 

“I asked about what she was doing and if she needed any help,” said Dr. Ravagnoli. “I knew I was teaching this class, and it always has a service-learning component.” 

The students are working with Ong to research asylum cases, on behalf of people who fled their homelands to avoid targeted violence or political persecution. Research is key in asylum cases, since it documents if applicants meet the criteria for approval. 

“The students are actually preparing files for her cases,” said Dr. Ravagnoli. “They’re reading reports and finding materials that can be used in court to vouch for what the clients are claiming.” 

Student researcher Sydney Jane Chavous ’26 is a psychology major with a minor on organizational/industrial psychology. Her career goal is helping marginalized groups get a fair shake at work and in society, and she described this project as great preparation for that track. 

“Through speaking with the lawyers at De Novo, I’ve learned how to research things better,” said Chavous. “You learn a lot from active work; I think it’s a level of learning you can’t get just from reading in class.” 

“This is easily the most rewarding thing I’ve done at Emmanuel,” she added.  

Student researcher Aristidis Stefanis ’27 is a double-major in history and political science. He’s researching an asylum case for someone whose life is at risk in their home country due to albinism. It’s his first service learning project, and he described it as an eye-opening experience.  

“It’s been very educational and important work,” said Stefanis. “The concepts we’re learning about in class, such as critical thinking and the ability to interpret media, are instrumental to the work we’re doing.” 

“It feels good to know we’re helping someone seek asylum and be safe,” he added. “It makes you want to work harder and put more effort into what we’re doing.”

Finding a Path in Immigration Law 

Ong’s education in immigration law began long before college. Her father immigrated from Malaysia in 1985 and she was there as he navigated the long and difficult naturalization process, which he completed in 2018. 

At Emmanuel, Ong majored in history, with a minor in political science. But she credited a senior-year internship with the City of Boston’s Office of Immigrant Advancement with solidifying her intent to practice immigration law. 

Working with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement, her duties centered on maintaining the immigration resource areas at every branch of the Boston Public Library.  Providing resources that supported those communities resonated deeply with her and brought her career goal into focus. 

“I was in the community, talking with librarians about what they and their communities needed,” said Ong. “That being part of my Emmanuel education was so impactful in my decision to do more and be involved with the immigrant community as an advocate.”

Ong earned a juris doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in 2022. After one year of serving as a legal advocate and staff attorney at Ascentria Care Alliance, she joined De Novo in the summer of 2023. 

Highlighting the Human Aspects of Immigration Law 

The History Department welcomed Ong as a guest speaker in October. She provided an overview of the immigration system, which she described as large, complicated, and in many cases outdated. The primary law is the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which hasn’t seen major updates since 1978. As a result, she said the laws don’t account for modern concerns, such as globalization and climate change, or meet the current levels of demand. 

“We are trying to fit modern cases and modern laws into that a box that does not fit,” said Ong. 

Ong also outlined difficult realities of system for requesting asylum. The laws allow people fleeing persecution to seek asylum, but in addition to lengthy wait times, there are administrative fees and often the challenge of finding representation; immigration court is considered administrative, so there is no right to a court-appointed attorney. 

The sheer number of cases is also a challenge for immigration attorneys. Ong encouraged students thinking of law school to consider that field or take pro bono cases for organizations such as De Novo.  

Above all, Ong stressed the human aspect of immigration and the laws governing it. She closed with a success story about two of her clients, a brother and sister who fled their homeland as children to escape targeted violence against their family. It took eight years, but they secured asylum, and along with it a sense of security and safety for the first time in their lives. Now they can work, access financial aid, and have opportunity. 

“I do have moments where I can see how the work that we’re doing in immigration law can drastically change someone’s life for the better,” said Ong. 

“Cases like this remind me that behind every law and political slogan and debate that we hear, there are real people and their lives are in the balance,” she added. “Wins like this show why this work matters.”