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? Then join the Advocacy team for breakfast to learn more about what we can all do to advocate for immigrant rights!

Grab breakfast and bring it with you to this session!

CLINIC provides more than just great training for its affiliates. Discover CLINIC’s other services including expert attorney advice, recognition, and accreditation application assistance, flow-through funding and other resources. Affiliates will leave this session knowing how to get the most out of your CLINIC affiliation. Not an affiliate? Learn how to become one! 

Is your organization’s applications for recognition and/or accreditation "application ready"? Are you feeling overwhelmed about how to answer a question on the application or what attachments should be included? Join CLINIC’s DOJ R & A experts as we share best practices, answer application specific questions and help you identify ways to strengthen your application.

Join CLINIC’s government relations team in conversation with Department of Homeland Security agencies on how to escalate multiple types of case issues. In this panel, learn about the roles of these agencies, what to raise to their attention, and how to submit inquiries.

According to some estimates, between 425,000 and 500,000 Cubans were encountered at the US border in 2022 and 2023. Advocates around the country have therefore seen increasing numbers of Cuban clients seeking adjustment through the Cuban Adjustment Act, asylum, and parole. During this session, panelists will discuss the latest updates on these forms of immigration relief. We will also review the various strategic and ethical considerations that come into play depending on how one's Cuban client entered the United States and whether they have been placed in removal proceedings.

It is not always easy choosing the right option for a client who needs to remove the conditions on their two-year resident status. In this workshop, appropriate for practitioners of all levels, presenters will discuss how and when to file the I-751 joint petition or waiver, and the circumstances in which late filings will be excused. The session will also cover new USCIS policies on changing or supplementing the filing basis, termination of status, and readjustment after termination.

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 need of urgent direct representation. 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.

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 around adapting to evolving community needs such as recent arrivals, raids, community outreach and education, etc.

This workshop will provide an introduction to VAWA self-petitioning for practitioners who are new to self-petitions. The presenters will cover the basic eligibility requirements for self-petitioning for individuals who have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty by their USC or LPR family members. Participants will learn about how to prepare a successful self-petition, including strategies for developing the client’s declaration and gathering required evidence.

This session is geared for individuals with legal advocate roles at their organizations (attorney, DOJ reps, legal support staff). At this session you will have an opportunity to start conversations that promote learning and sharing of effective legal practices and challenges focused on family based, Naturalization and affirmative immigration legal services cases.

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 desire to meet the community need without overburdening practitioners’ caseloads. Pro se assistance, group workshops, and limited document assistance have become ubiquitous in the face of these increasing demands.

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 will provide insight into how collaboration between country conditions, mental health, and medical experts will strengthen your client’s case. We will cover how to prepare an expert witness to testify, how to qualify your expert witness in court, and common challenges to an expert’s qualifications and testimony. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to incorporate expert witnesses into your next case.

This session is geared for individuals with program management roles at their organizations (executive director, program director, project managers, or project support staff). At this session you will have an opportunity to engage in conversations that promote learning and sharing of effective program management practices and challenges around effective program management.

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. Seeking clarification on the recent updates to the Visa bulletin? Join Advocacy and RIS as they provide an overview of the update to the visa bulletin that currently affects the permanent residency process for religious workers.

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. Is there reason to be concerned about: health-based inadmissibility? Crime-based inadmissibility? Lack of good moral character? Adverse discretionary factors? Exposure to enforcement? This presentation will address the potential immigration law consequences of controlled substance and alcohol abuse, as well as the part discretion plays in adjudicating applications for immigration benefits.

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. Let’s work through our anxiety together! We will discuss social groups that are recognized by federal courts and EOIR and how to craft a valid particular social group to fulfill the legal requirements of immutability, particularity, and social distinction.