SILVER SPRING, Maryland — Kicking off the four-day all-virtual conference for immigration legal advocates, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou spoke yesterday about her vision for the agency and the work being done internally to rebuild and support USCIS to over 800 attendees at Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc, or CLINIC, Convening 2022.

“USCIS is committed to upholding America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility,” said USCIS Director Jaddou. “I look forward to continuing this mission with our incredible workforce and building a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system that gives our communities and those seeking benefits and services from USCIS the opportunity to live and thrive.”

“It was an honor to have Director Jaddou open CLINIC Convening 2022. I have been impressed with the positive, impactful changes that she has already made at USCIS,” said CLINIC Executive Director Anna Gallagher. “By reframing USCIS’ mission statement back to one of ‘welcome’ and ‘fairness,’ Director Jaddou is guiding this agency toward becoming the first-class institution and example of governmental excellence we know it can be.” 

Over the next few days, workshops will be led by industry experts from non-profit, legal and faith-based backgrounds. Representing asylum-seekers in a rapidly changing landscape, addressing anti-Black systemic racism in U.S. immigration law and policy, and strategies for resolving difficult immigration cases are among the real-world topics to be covered at CLINIC Convening 2022. 

CLINIC Convening is CLINIC’s flagship technical assistance, networking and strategy event held on an annual basis. 2022 marks the 23rd year of CLINIC Convening, and the second year of the all-virtual format. We hope to hold CLINIC Convening in person in 2023.