Public
CLINIC Welcomes Immigration Action
By: Wendy Rhein
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Wendy Rhein 202 635 5825
wrhein@cliniclegal.org
CLINIC WELCOMES IMMIGRATION ACTION, READY TO LEAD 215 NETWORK AFFILIATES IN IMMIGRATION LEGAL SERVICES
Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2013) - [En Español] - The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) is encouraged by the U.S. Senate’s consideration of a bill that will reform the broken immigration system. CLINIC announces that its network of more than 215 charitable legal service providers stands ready to serve low income and vulnerable immigrants when a bill is finally signed into law.
The Senate’s proposed bill is a first step toward comprehensive immigration reform. CLINIC looks forward to a final bill that incorporates a fair and just path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people in our country, maintains family unity as the hallmark of our immigration system, reinstates due process protections and compassion to our immigration enforcement policies, provides protection to the persecuted, and protects immigrant workers.
Updates on Waiver Adjudication from the NSC
By: Susan Schreiber and Charles Wheeler
On March 21-22, CLINIC conducted a two-day training in Omaha on recognizing grounds of inadmissibility and filing effective waivers. On the second day, officials from the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) gave a presentation on the centralized filing and adjudication of Form I-601 waivers of inadmissibility at the NSC and answered questions from participants. On March 23, participants were given a tour of the NSC building in Lincoln where they saw first-hand how the adjudication process operates; they were also allowed to ask further questions. The following are minutes from the presentations and Q and A with Kathryn Nicholas, NSC Community Engagement Officer, Ronna Simon, NSC Supervisor, and Kelly Johnson, NSC Senior Adjudicator of I-601s. The discussion and these minutes do not cover the new provisional waiver procedure or the Form I-601A.
NSC Experience with Form I-601 Waiver Adjudications
Although centralized stateside adjudication of I-601 waivers started on June 4, 2012, the NSC has been involved in waiver adjudications since June 2011, when it began adjudicating waivers that were transferred from the USCIS in Ciudad
The Legal Advocate's Perspective
THE LEGAL ADVOCATE’S PERSPECTIVE:
Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition and Accreditation
&
Immigration Legal Services for Battered Immigrants
Training Materials and Resources
BIA Recognition and Accreditation for Start-up and Expanding Programs
Join us for CLINIC’s kick-off webinar for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) preparation in 2013, the first in a series. This free webinar training covers the application process and requirements for Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognition and accreditation. We also discuss the latest BIA developments, including the new FAQ sheet released by the BIA, training requirements for staff, and issues the BIA is analyzing before submitting proposed changes to recognition and accreditation regulations.
President Obama Signs VAWA 2013
By Sarah Bronstein
On March 7, 2013, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013), keeping VAWA protection in place and making some important changes in the immigration context. Passage of this legislation followed a heated battle in Congress. Advocates fought back attempts to restrict VAWA and U Nonimmigrant status provisions and Congress ultimately made some positive changes to the law.
U Nonimmigrant Status Derivatives
Network Profiles
CLINIC values the dedication and commitment to service demonstrated by our member agencies in their work with their communities. We wish to highlight outstanding individual agency staff in a series of profiles that will appear each month in Catholic Legal Immigration News.
Francisco Gonzalez
Immigration Program Manager, BIA
Catholic Charities CYO, San Francisco, CA
How many years have you spent working in immigration?
16 years
Updates from the Department of Homeland Security
USCIS Policy Manual:
On January 15, 2013, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas engaged with stakeholders about the agency’s new policy manual. USCIS’s Office of Policy and Strategy, and particularly its chief, Denise Vanison, have been working hard on the manual for almost four years. Their efforts are a response to feedback the agency had been receiving about the need for consistency and predictability in adjudications.
