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DACA
Date and Time:
07/15/2020 11:00am to 12:30pm PDT
Recorded Date:
07/15/2020
Place:
Online
Registration Deadline:
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - 11:00am
Presenter:
Krsna Avila
Allison Davenport
Veronica Garcia
Sandy Valenciano
Sally Kinoshita
MCLE:
1.5

After a long legal battle, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has restored the DACA program – allowing for both renewal and first time DACA applications – but uncertainty about the future of the program remains. This webinar will provide a refresher on preparing initial applications, including guidance on gathering evidence in the COVID-19 era, and red flags to watch out for. Special considerations for first-time applicants will also be outlined, so that eligible individuals can benefit from the program while also developing a long-term strategy. Finally, the webinar will place this recent legal victory in the larger context of the movement for immigrant rights and how to support efforts for inclusive immigration reform.

Presenters

Krsna Avila

Krsna is based in San Francisco, California, and focuses on immigration enforcement issues, including state and local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration agencies in unlawfully deporting immigrants, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals advocacy.

Krsna joins the ILRC with a wealth of personal and professional immigration experience. Having immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was only four months old, Krsna grew up as an undocumented immigrant. Prior to law school, Krsna worked closely with the ILRC to establish a legal services program at Educators for Fair Consideration. As their Legal Services Manager, Krsna provided legal support to undocumented youth throughout the country.

Directly feeling the effects of our unjust immigration system, Krsna quickly became interested in attending law school in order to understand the legal system from a different lens.

While in law school, Krsna worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington D.C. and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California where he supported litigation regarding free speech and racial discrimination issues. He also participated in the Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic, where he helped represent a client before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Krsna also volunteered with the European Council on Refugees and was an editorial member for the Cornell Legal Information Institute U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin.

Krsna earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis, and his law degree from Cornell Law School where he received the 2017 Freeman Award for Civil-Human Rights for his commitment to civil rights and public service.

Allison Davenport

Allison Davenport joined the ILRC in 2015 as a staff attorney based in California’s Central Valley, where she was born and raised. Prior to joining the ILRC, she was a clinical instructor with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law. At the clinic she directed the establishment of the Legal Support Program for undocumented students, the documentation of human rights abuses against LGBTI individuals in El Salvador, and the promotion of equal access to clean water in California.  Allison practiced immigration law, first in private practice and then as founder of the immigration legal services program at Centro Legal de la Raza. Allison also formerly worked as a staff attorney with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a JD and an MA in Latin American Studies. Allison speaks Spanish.

Veronica Garcia

Veronica joined the ILRC in December 2017 as a San Joaquin Valley Law Fellow.  Prior to joining ILRC, Veronica completed an Equal Justice Works Fellowship at Centro Legal de La Raza as an DACA/DAPA Emerson Fellow.  Veronica is a graduate of Howard University School of Law.  During Law school, Veronica interned at various immigrant right organizations, including Kids in Need of Defense and New York Legal Aid. Additionally, Veronica was recognized by the Hispanic Bar Association of Washington D.C. (HBA-DC) for her commitment to the advancement of the Hispanic community by being awarded the inaugural HBA-DC Foundation Scholarship.

As an immigrant who grew up in Oakland California, Veronica strives to use her legal education and experience working directly with immigrant communities. 

Sandy Valenciano

Sandy (pronouns: she/they) is crimmigration strategist, who organizes at the intersection of criminal justice and immigrant rights with abolition practices. Sandy is an immigrant from Zacatecas, Mexico, who has spent most of her life in the Bay Area. Sandy graduated from Sonoma State University, where she obtained her Bachelors in Psychology. Sandy led leadership development and campaign strategy while at the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA), where she served as the Executive Director. She has organized grassroot efforts to build community defense models to stop the criminilization, detention and deportation of immigrant communities. Sandy has organized and led campaign victories such as the TRUST Act, Health for undocumented young adults, TRUTH Act, Due Process for All, Dignity Not Detention Act (SB29), AB 103 (creating state oversight of immigration detention), and AB32 (banning private prisons and imigration detention centers). Sandy is ILRC’s new Andy Grove Fellow.

Sally Kinoshita

Sally Kinoshita is the ILRC’s Deputy Director based in San Francisco. In this role, she weaves together more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in immigration law, capacity building, advocacy, program development, and collaborative facilitation. Sally has provided technical assistance, trainings, and facilitation to groups on local, state, and national levels and has co-authored a number of publications including The U Visa: Obtaining Status for Immigrant Victims of Crime (ILRC), The VAWA Manual: Immigration Relief for Abused Immigrants (ILRC), Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Court Judges (ILRC), and Application of Protection Remedies for Victims of Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking, and Crime under U.S. Law to Persons Physically Present in the U.S. Territories (Family Violence Prevention Fund).

Prior to working at the ILRC, Sally was a Staff Attorney at Asian Law Caucus and a consultant with ASISTA, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and Family Violence Prevention Fund/Futures Without Violence. During law school, she worked with the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic, Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights, ACLU of Northern California, and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

Sally is currently a member of the Leadership Council of Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC) and has served as a Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section Advisory Board Member and Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) Steering Committee Member.

Sally earned her law degree from the University of California at Davis. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in sociology. She is admitted to the California bar.