Removal defense involves representing and advocating for immigrants facing deportation from the United States. For many immigrants facing removal from the United States, the process involves appearing before an immigration judge in immigration court. Most immigrants cannot afford to have an attorney represent them in court. Sadly, legal representation is the single most important factor in determining whether someone will win or lose their case.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) builds the capacity of practitioners to represent clients in immigration court proceedings. As national experts in immigration law, the ILRC publishes a hands-on comprehensive manual, Removal Defense: Defending Immigrants in Immigration Court, and offers trainings on this topic. We also support practitioners and pro bono attorneys in their specific cases through our Attorney of the Day (AOD) technical assistance service.
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This Advisory discusses California offenses under Pugin, and discusses California criminal sentencing dispositions that avoid a sentence of a year or more for immigration purposes.
This Advisory is written by immigration attorneys and medical doctors specializing in SUD, to examine the issue from both perspectives. Part I of the advisory discusses the several immigration law penalties based on substance use (even when use has not risen to a disorder) and suggests legal defense strategies. Part II of the advisory reviews current medical information about the disorders and discusses how this information can address questions that arise in immigration proceedings.
This advisory provides a step-by-step approach to help advocates analyze a case and identify goals. It can be used by criminal defense counsel, immigration advocates, and post-conviction relief counsel. It is not a substitute for consulting with a crim/imm expert, but using it should increase your expertise and help you to better discuss the analysis with the client, argue it to the judge or official, or negotiate with the other side.
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This webinar will cover withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). It will discuss the differences between asylum, statutory and CAT withholding of removal, and CAT deferral of removal and review the current case law and recent developments. It will also provide tips to help argue for withholding or CAT as an alternative in an asylum case as well as prepare standalone withholding or CAT claim for clients who are asylum-barred or otherwise ineligible.
Presenters
Andrew Craycroft
Andrew joined the ILRC in May 2019 as a Staff Attorney focusing on immigrant youth issues. Prior to joining the ILRC, he worked at Staten Island Legal Services representing clients in a variety of affirmative and defensive immigration matters. Previously, Andrew worked at the Unaccompanied Minors Program of Catholic Charities Community Services in New York, representing detained and released unaccompanied minors in removal defense.
Andrew received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he participated in the Center for Applied Legal Studies Clinic. Andrew earned his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in Political Economy of Industrial Societies. Andrew is admitted to the bar in New Jersey and New York. He is fluent in French and Spanish with some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, and Arabic.
Priscilla Olivarez
Priscilla Olivarez is a Policy Attorney and Strategist based in San Antonio, Texas. In her role with the ILRC, Priscilla works alongside other Texas advocates to develop and promote local and state policies that protect the dignity of immigrant communities. Prior to joining the ILRC, Priscilla was a Managing Attorney at American Gateways (AG), a nonprofit organization that provides direct legal services in immigration matters. While at AG, Priscilla focused her efforts on representing and assisting individuals who were in immigration detention. She helped manage the organization's Legal Orientation Program, providing assistance to unrepresented individuals in immigration detention, as well as its National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP), which provides legal representation to individuals deemed mentally incompetent in immigration proceedings. Priscilla also provided direct representation to individuals in detention, with a focus on advocacy for individuals with mental disabilities or other heightened vulnerabilities. Priscilla has represented clients before the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Priscilla's other advocacy experience includes working abroad, providing legal support to survivors of human trafficking in the Philippines. Priscilla has also advocated on behalf of survivors of domestic violence and volunteered near the Texas-Mexico border representing unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings. Outside of her immigration work, Priscilla has advocated for fair housing for vulnerable populations, and worked to coordinate a national research study that examined racial discrimination in the housing market.
Priscilla is a graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law and is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts, Texas, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In this webinar, attendees will receive a comprehensive, top-level review of how to analyze an immigration case when criminal history is present. We will provide a top-level overview of the grounds of inadmissibility, grounds of deportability, aggravated felonies, good moral character, and immigration relief. Attendees will leave with the ability to issue spot the key issues in crim/imm cases.
Presenters
Kathy Brady
Kathy Brady is a Staff Attorney based in San Francisco. She has worked with the ILRC since 1987. Along with expertise in family immigration, immigrant children and youth, and removal defense, she is a national expert on the intersection of immigration and criminal law. She is a frequent speaker and consultant, and has co-authored several manuals including Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit (ILRC), California Criminal Defense of Immigrants (CEB), the chapter on representing immigrants in California Criminal Law – Procedure and Practice (CEB), and Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Courts (ILRC). She helped found coalitions and projects to address these issues, including as a co-founder of the Defending Immigrants Partnership and the Immigrant Justice Network. Kathy served as a Commissioner to the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration from 2009-2012. In 2007 she received the Carol King award of advocacy from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
Before working at the ILRC Kathy was in private practice in immigration law with Park & Associates in San Francisco.
Kathy attended Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley School of Law, and has taught immigration law as an adjunct professor. She is a member of the California Bar and is conversant in Spanish.
Grisel Ruiz
Grisel Ruiz is a Supervising Attorney in San Francisco where she focuses on the intersection between immigration law and criminal law. This includes advising attorneys and advocates on the immigration consequences of criminal offenses, training on removal defense, and supporting local and statewide campaigns to push back on immigration enforcement. In addition to technical assistance, training, and campaign support in these areas, Grisel also helps lead the ILRC’s state legislative work. Grisel is currently the Board Chair for Freedom for Immigrants (formerly CIVIC), a nonprofit that advocates for detained immigrants.
Prior to working with the ILRC, Grisel was a litigation associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and a Stimson Fellow housed at the UC Davis Law School Immigration Clinic and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. As a legal fellow, she co-founded “Know Your Rights” programs at local immigration detention centers, for which she received an award from Cosmo for Latinas.
Grisel is an immigrant herself and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago where she received the Tony Patiño Fellowship. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she dual majored in Political Science and Spanish Literature. Grisel is admitted to the bar in California is fluent in Spanish.
Recorded Date: 03/28/2023
Place: Online
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 - 11:00am
MCLE: 1.5 CA & TX