DHS Enforcement Priorities & Prosecutorial Discretion

  • 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Pacific Time (US & Canada)
  • By: Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • Online
  • Source: CALegalAdvocates (Decommissioned) > CALegalAdvocates.org
Topics:
  • Immigration

This webinar will explain DHS's enforcement priorities in depth. We will discuss enforcement practices, risk assessment for clients, and arguments and strategies for advocates to obtain prosecutorial discretion for your clients.

PresentersL

Lena Graber, Special Projects Attorney - ILRC
Lena has been involved in immigrant rights work for ten years, focusing on enforcement and detention issues. Lena joined ILRC in 2013 as Special Projects Attorney to lead ILRC's work on DACA services and trainings, as well as contribute to ILRC legal manuals and enforcement advocacy. Prior to joining the ILRC, Lena was a Soros Justice Fellow at the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, where she supported local campaigns against ICE detainers, provided training and education on the detention and deportation system, and litigated constitutional rights cases related to ICE enforcement. Previously at the National Immigration Forum, Lena worked with border communities to improve accountability for human rights abuses by Border Patrol, and contributed to national immigration policy advocacy and reform efforts. Lena graduated from Wesleyan University and George Washington University Law School, during which she worked on international human rights litigation in South Africa, co-managed a domestic violence email hotline, and aided local racial justice work with the Advancement Project and ONE DC. Lena is a proficient Spanish speaker, a tap dancer, and once she was an immigrant rights mime.

Laura Polstein, Immigration Senior Staff Attorney - Centro Legal de la Raza
Laura is an Immigration Senior Staff Attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza, located in Oakland, California, where she focuses on deportation defense. In addition to providing direct legal services, Laura represents Centro Legal in various local coalitions working to enact pro-immigrant policies. Laura has been working in the field of immigration law since 2004. She graduated from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law in 2010 and holds a bachelor's degree from Grinnell College. Laura is admitted to the New York State Bar and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).

Grisel Ruiz, Staff Attorney - ILRC
Grisel joined the ILRC in 2012 through a fellowship focused on the intersection between immigration law and criminal law. Prior to joining the ILRC, Grisel was a litigation associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Before Pillsbury, Grisel received the Stimson Fellowship to head a project jointly housed at the Immigration Law Clinic at UC Davis School of Law and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, through which she co-founded "Know Your Rights" programs at two local ICE-contracted facilities. These projects provided individual representation, pro bono referrals, pro se materials, and case consultations to hundreds of detained immigrants in removal proceedings. Grisel also provided community presentations regarding constitutional rights when confronted by law enforcement and supervised law students in removal defense cases before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Grisel is fluent in Spanish and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School where she received the Tony Patiño Fellowship. Prior to law school she worked as a paralegal and coordinator at the National Immigrant Justice Center. She attended the University of Notre Dame for her B.A.

  • CLE Credit Comments: 1.5 CA
  • Contact:
    Helen Leung
    Immigrant Legal Resource Center
    415-255-9499, ext. 539
  • Website: www.ilrc.org