Convening Agenda

Friday - May 30, 2025

This session is geared for individuals with legal advocate roles at their organizations (attorney, DOJ reps, legal support staff).

Remote work has become increasingly common in the last few years. How can your organization rely on remote services for purposes of capacity building and promoting access to legal services?
Increased enforcement under the Trump administration has led to the arrests and detention of tens of thousands of noncitizens.
Understanding clients’ criminal histories is critical for immigration practitioners to properly advise and represent their clients.

The Trump administration has taken sweeping steps to attack protections for immigrants.

This session is geared for individuals who are attorneys or fully accredited representatives who practice in removal defense.

In this interactive workshop, panelists and participants will work together to tackle challenges faced by program managers and directors of charitable immigration legal services programs.

Because immigrants are likely to have experienced trauma—whether in their home country, during their journey, or in the U.S.—it is critical for advocates to understand how trauma impacts our client

Have you ever found yourself stumped by a legal question? How do you figure out if a married child can petition for their parent as a U nonimmigrant?
Family-based immigration can present a host of potential problems for both the beginner and advanced practitioner.

This session is geared for individuals with program management roles at their organizations (executive director, program director, project managers, or project support staff).

Having a case denied in immigration court does not mean the end of the road for our clients.

The public charge ground of inadmissibility is often a significant obstacle for low-income clients applying for family-based immigration.

Learn effective strategies for navigating delays and overcoming challenges when working with immigration agencies.

Advocates face ever-evolving challenges in representing their clients in U Status related cases.

Grab breakfast and bring it with you to this session!

Thursday - May 29, 2025

Is your organization’s applications for recognition and/or accreditation “application ready”?
This session will cover the fundamentals of obtaining T nonimmigrant status for victims of human trafficking.

In this interactive panel we will cover some of the most pressing issues in enforcement and removal.

Have you been waiting for the time when you finally understand the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)?

Join CLINIC’s DOJ R & A experts for updates, a discussion of the latest trends we are seeing in adjudications and answers to our most frequently asked questions, CLINIC’s advocacy efforts on R&A and issues on the horizon.
This workshop will provide a general overview of the R-1 religious worker visa process and the “Special Immigrant” permanent residence program for religious workers.
This training will provide legal practitioners with essential best practices for preparing a strong asylum application (Form I-589) and supporting declaration.
We will discuss helpful ways to advise clients applying for naturalization, awaiting interviews, and preparing for their English and civics examinations.
Cultivating wellness in an organization is not an option but a necessity.
This session will provide practical tips on how practitioners can best prepare for an individual hearing.
This session will focus on the basics of asylum law, including the bars to establishing eligibility for relief.

You have worked hard to prepare your client’s naturalization application and finally they’ve been scheduled for their interview!

This panel will review the changes in immigration law and policy over the past year, illuminating the administration’s impact on noncitizens’ access to lawful status and forms of relief.

This session will break down the essential components of a Master Calendar Hearing (MCH), including procedural requirements and review of the Notice to Appear, discuss common issues that can arise,

Back by popular demand! This interactive wellness session dives into recognizing and managing vicarious trauma while preventing burnout.

How do your clients’ prior entries to and exits from the United States affect their ability to immigrate?

This session will provide an overview of the two pathways to family-based adjustment of status under INA §245(a) and INA §245(i).

Wednesday - May 28, 2025

Join us for several interactive training sessions that will help your staff and organizations be better prepared to support our communities through defensive strategies and know your rights informa

Join us for an in-person peer-to-peer networking event designed exclusively for DOJ-Accredited Representatives to connect, share experiences, and support one another in their professional developme

Thursday, May 30

How many roads must a religious worker walk down before you call him/her a lawful permanent resident…the answer my friend is blowing in the wind at the RIS Breakfast!

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called "Religious Worker Permanent Residency."

This session will provide information and insight to managers and supervisors about how to identify burnout or vicarious trauma in themselves and in their staff.

On Sept. 13, 2023, Judge Andrew Hanen, a federal judge in the U.S. Southern District of Texas, ruled DACA unlawful.

You just received a denial of your client’s application or petition, and the clock is ticking. What remedies are available to challenge the denial and how can you pursue them?

You have worked hard to prepare your client’s naturalization application and now your client is scheduled for an interview with USCIS. How do you prepare your client for that important day?

This session is geared for individuals who are attorneys or fully accredited representatives who practice in removal defense.

It’s never easy keeping up with USCIS updates and changes. Fear not, as Religious Immigration Services (RIS) is here! Join the RIS team for a discussion on all things religious worker.

Well-established policies and procedures promote fairness and uniformity in our programs’ operations.

Over the past few years, many non-profit legal service providers have been inundated with new arrivals, asylum seekers, naturalization applicants, and TPS applicants.

There is no shortage of agency updates in immigration law. In this session, speakers will discuss immigration hot topics and updates for 2024.

Are you confused as to exactly when your client can retain an earlier priority date? What about the consequences of the petitioner naturalizing or the beneficiary marrying?

This session will cover a variety of situations where your client is in removal proceedings but is eligible for family-related relief.

As more immigrants arrive in different communities across the United States, states and localities have created programs, policies, and funding opportunities in order to assist their new neighbors.

What’s the significance of an extension or a re-designation? Who needs to re-register and when? Will my client benefit from an automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) extension?

All naturalization applicants must show that they are of “good moral character” in order to be granted U.S. citizenship.

This session provides information and insight about how to identify and work through vicarious trauma and prevent burnout.

As legal representatives, we share responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the justice system and the legal profession.

Every stage of the application process for seeking U status and adjustment can present significant eligibility challenges, from obtaining a law enforcement certification and identifying a qualifyin

Panelists will cover the basics of consular processing: communicating with the NVC, uploading documents onto the CEAC website, preparing the client for the consular interview, and dealing with visa

Immigration court practice in 2024 presents unique challenges and opportunities.

Friday, May 31

Are you interested in learning about what CLINIC’s advocacy department is doing and how you can become an advocate in your local communities or on the federal administrative level?

Is your organization’s applications for recognition and/or accreditation "application ready"?

Join CLINIC’s government relations team in conversation with Department of Homeland Security agencies on how to escalate multiple types of case issues.

According to some estimates, between 425,000 and 500,000 Cubans were encountered at the US border in 2022 and 2023.

It is not always easy choosing the right option for a client who needs to remove the conditions on their two-year resident status.

The Department of Justice Recognition and Accreditation (DOJ R & A) program is integral to growing the immigration legal service capacity to respond to the increasing numbers of newcomers in ne

This session is geared for all individuals seeking for opportunities to start conversations that promote learning and sharing of effective legal and program management practices and challenges arou

This workshop will provide an introduction to VAWA self-petitioning for practitioners who are new to self-petitions.

This session is geared for individuals with legal advocate roles at their organizations (attorney, DOJ reps, legal support staff).

Because demand for affordable immigration legal services continues to outweigh capacity, nonprofit providers are increasingly turning to unique, limited-scope service delivery models to balance the

Expert witness testimony can sway an immigration judge from a denial to a grant and can be critical to winning a remand from the BIA.

This session is geared for individuals with program management roles at their organizations (executive director, program director, project managers, or project support staff).

In March 2023, the Department of State announced changes to the visa bulletin which has created roughly a ten-year backlog for religious workers waiting to receive their green cards.

Imagine your client just disclosed a DUI conviction from a few years ago. Or maybe your client has told you that she has used marijuana in a state where it is legal.

Membership in a valid “particular social group” is a protected ground under asylum law. However, the term “particular social group” often instills fear in immigration practitioners.

Wednesday, May 29

This session is geared for individuals with legal advocate roles at their organizations (attorney, DOJ reps, legal support staff).
This session is geared for individuals with program management roles at their organizations (executive director, program director, project managers, or project support staff).

Join us in-person for our annual CLINIC ICM Power User Workshop!

This interactive workshop will help prepare legal representatives to successfully represent a client in an asylum case in immigration court.