Publication
FOIA Requests and Other Background Checks: A Practical Guide to Filing Records Requests in Immigration Cases provides practitioners with a one-stop guide for information about why, when, where, and how to file background checks in immigration cases. This guide describes the various federal agencies and components that generally hold immigration records, explains how to request records and appeal denials or incomplete responses, and provides tips for certain circumstances, such as representing minors or immigrants in removal proceedings.
Webinar
For practitioners already familiar with the basics of family-based petitions, this webinar will focus on the adjustment of status process for individuals pursuing permanent resident status through a family member here in the United States, including various pathways to adjustment and red flags. We will compare 245(i) eligibility and traditional adjustment under 245(a), as well as strategies for establishing adjustment eligibility.
Seminar
In this two-part training series, we will provide an overview of the eligibility requirements for acquiring citizenship at birth and deriving citizenship after birth and discuss some of the common obstacles in making these claims. Using exercises, we will walk through how to analyze a client's claim to citizenship through acquisition or derivation.
Seminar
In this two-part training series, we will provide an overview of the eligibility requirements for acquiring citizenship at birth and deriving citizenship after birth and discuss some of the common obstacles in making these claims. Using exercises, we will walk through how to analyze a client's claim to citizenship through acquisition or derivation.
Seminar
For those who are new to family-based immigration, this session will provide an overview of family-based petitions and qualifying relationships, family-based adjustment eligibility, and an introduction to inadmissibility grounds and waivers.
Seminar
For those ready to move beyond an introduction to family-based immigration, this session will provide more information on inadmissibility grounds and waivers, as well as an overview of consular processing for those who do not qualify to adjust status.
Webinar
This webinar will cover some of the most common waivers of inadmissibility: waivers of unlawful presence, the "permanent" bar, alien smuggling, fraud and misrepresentation, prior removal order, and 212(h) waiver of certain criminal grounds. We will explain the requirements and process for seeking each of these waivers and go over practice tips for preparing a strong waiver application.
Webinar
This webinar will explore emerging topics in asylum. We will discuss recent policy changes as a result of the new administration and recent decisions impacting how to present a case. This training is geared to those already familiar with the basic legal framework for asylum claims.
Webinar
This webinar will focus on establishing a social group and proving nexus in asylum claims. We will highlight hot topics in social group analysis, including recent decisions by the Attorney General and Board of Immigration Appeals, such as Matter of A-B- and Matter of L-E-A-. We will also focus on best practices for preparing and presenting claims in the Immigration Court and Asylum Office. This webinar presumes basic knowledge of asylum law, including understanding the key elements of an asylum claim.
Webinar
Bewildered by the many policy changes and litigation efforts surrounding public charge? Unsure if you’re prepared to counsel and advise clients on how public charge could impact their ability to get a family-based green card or visa to enter the United States? Join us for this FREE webinar as we discuss the challenges our immigrant clients are currently facing around public benefits and immigration status, and strategies to help clients overcome public charge concerns at various administrative agencies. This webinar will review the latest developments in public charge policy and regulations under the Trump administration. We will cover the public charge grounds of inadmissibility and deportability in detail, offering tools to evaluate your clients’ cases and prepare strong cases on their behalf.
Webinar
This webinar will cover forms of relief and issues for children and youth, beyond asylum and SIJS, such as CSPA, 245(i), recapturing priority dates, selected inadmissibility issues and other children’s issues. It will give practitioners who are already well versed in UC asylum and SIJS cases an overview of these other forms of relief and the challenges inherent to representing children, in order to identify alternatives for youth and young adult clients and recognize potential problems and pitfalls.
Webinar
This webinar covers various hot topic issues involving good moral character that frequently arise in naturalization cases. We will discuss discretionary and statutory bars to proving good moral character and the balance test that CIS must employ when deciding if an applicant who is not statutorily ineligible has good moral character. We will also cover how a DUI can impact naturalization, including the Attorney General’s October 25, 2019 decision in the Matter of Castillo-Perez, a discussion about marijuana and naturalization, and other topics. This webinar is appropriate for practitioners who are new to naturalization, as well as those who are experienced and need a review or fine-tuning.
Webinar
Learn about the basics of preparing and filing a family-based immigrant visa consular processing case from start-to-finish and potential red flags to watch out for, such as public charge, alien smuggling, and other issues. Whether you are newer to consular processing or just need a refresher on current consular processing practice, we’ll review the steps in an immigrant visa consular processing case, as well as applying for waivers and troubleshooting when problems arise.
Webinar
This webinar is geared toward those with previous exposure to Non-LPR Cancellation of Removal cases, and who would like to delve into specific challenges. In this webinar, we will spend most of our time focusing on the bars to eligibility for Non-LPR Cancellation, such as crime bars and the stop-time rule, and we will discuss practice tips for meeting the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship standard.
Webinar
This webinar will discuss obtaining T visas for youth clients. Many immigrant youth are survivors of human trafficking and are eligible for T visas, but are unable to access this crucial but underutilized form of relief. We will explore the requirements for T visa eligibility, give an overview of the application process, and provide advocates with strategies on how to properly screen clients, with a special focus on how trafficking flags present themselves in youth cases.
Webinar
With the future of DACA hanging on a pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, it is important to assess whether DACA recipients have a permanent form of relief. This webinar will go over strategies and tips for screening DACA recipients for common forms of relief, with a focus on family-based immigration options.
Webinar
When representing immigrant clients, understanding and documenting arrests and criminal court cases is crucial to advising about immigration options and to filing applications. This webinar will be a practical exercise in how to review and what to look for in a client’s criminal “rap” sheets from a state or the FBI, as well as criminal conviction records from state courts, to determine eligibility for relief and whether inadmissibility or deportability grounds might apply. It will include practice tips on how best to obtain court records, how to spot potential issues that would be helpful for post-conviction relief, and whether any post-conviction relief obtained is likely viable in immigration proceedings.
Webinar
This webinar will discuss new policies affecting U petitioners as well as changing U visa adjudication trends, including how Vermont Service Center is treating certain qualifying crimes and inadmissibility issues. Join to hear what practitioners are reporting and to learn practice tips for working with immigrant survivors of domestic violence and other crimes in the current climate.
Webinar
Effective client intake is crucial to understanding a client's immigration options and vulnerabilities, and to giving accurate and complete advice. Join us to learn more about screening for various types of immigration relief and identifying common red flags.
Publication
One thing that is abundantly clear—immigrants need representation in immigration court. Most immigrants face removal proceedings without an attorney or authorized representative, and the outcomes with and without a representative are grossly disparate. With this publication, we hope to build the capacity of immigration practitioners to assist individuals in immigration court proceedings to provide more immigrants with a meaningful chance at justice.
Webinar
During this webinar, we’ll discuss how ICE operates and goes about detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of people a year. Designed for those new to the fight against ICE, this webinar will provide an overview of how ICE operates as well as an overview of local efforts to push back against ICE’s increasingly aggressive tactics. You’ll walk away from this webinar with a deeper understanding of the various mechanisms ICE employs to identify, arrest, and deport people along with clear strategies and tools that can be used by advocates to protect our communities.
Webinar
In conservative and anti-immigrant areas, it may not be possible to pass sweeping sanctuary laws that prohibit collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and ICE. This is especially true if anti-sanctuary statutes like Texas’ SB 4 and Florida’s SB 168 prevent such measures by state law. However, many of us are fighting back against ICE enforcement in all kinds of new and creative ways that connect criminal justice reforms and immigrant rights. This webinar will provide organizers and advocates with information about how to effectively strategize in “red” regions to build successful campaigns, create policy platforms and limit ICE’s reach in our communities.
Webinar
Join us for a Late-Breaking Public Charge Update on Tuesday, February 4, where we'll discuss the latest updates on public charge. We will review what the U.S. Supreme Court's January 27, 2020 order regarding the Department of Homeland Security's new public charge inadmissibility rule means for our clients and the immigrant community. We'll discuss what we know and what questions remain at this juncture, suggestions for how to talk about this latest development regarding public charge, and initial thoughts about how to approach adjustment of status cases in light of these changes.
Webinar
Over the years, whistleblowers and journalists have shed some light on the ways that the U.S. government uses sophisticated technology to spy on residents living in the United States. Although there is much more to learn in this space, there is an even greater lack of transparency on how similar technology is being used specifically on our immigrant communities. This webinar will provide a birds-eye-view of some of the ways in which ICE exploits data-sharing and new surveillance technologies in their massive deportation machine to identify, track, locate, and arrest immigrants.
Webinar
This webinar will review the legal requirements for eligibility under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness act (LRIF), which allows many Liberians to apply for permanent residence during the application period from December 19, 2019 to December 20, 2020. The speakers will also address practice tips, the latest guidance on LRIF, and discuss outreach to populations that are impacted.
Webinar
Join us for an update on public charge policies after the new inadmissibility rule from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken effect. We will discuss the various policies impacting immigrants and their families’ access to health care and other programs and take a closer look at the new DHS rule and who it affects. This webinar is designed for those conducting outreach and providing information to immigrants in a non-legal capacity.
Video
In this recording, we discuss how ICE operates and goes about detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of people a year. Designed for those new to the fight against ICE, we provide an overview of how ICE operates as well as an overview of local efforts to push back against ICE’s increasingly aggressive tactics. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the various mechanisms ICE employs to identify, arrest, and deport people along with clear strategies and tools that can be used by advocates to protect our communities.
Webinar
This webinar will give you key communications tools to uplift a values-based narrative and push back against anti-immigrant scapegoating, in support of the VISION Act (pending state bill which strengthens CA Values Act) and other similar policy asks. We know that hateful forces are trying to vilify and criminalize our communities. But when we uplift our values, our vision, and our stories, we can shift the bounds of what's possible.
Webinar
For those who are new to family-based immigration, this webinar will provide an overview of family-based petitions and qualifying relationships as well as basic family-based adjustment eligibility. Presenters