Description
For those of you who missed our August 2025, conference on "Get (Back) Into the Good Fight! Current Strategies to Protect Immigrant Survivors," the session recordings are now available for purchase. The online training is composed of four separate sessions. You can buy all four sessions together and save $100 or buy individual sessions.
This is a fundamentals/intermediate training for those who have some experience or interest in working with immigrant survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other serious crimes that may qualify for survivor-based relief cases. See below the agenda for additional information.
Session 1: Building Blocks of a Humanitarian Case (2 hrs.)
Immigrant survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other crimes face myriad barriers accessing safety and justice. To combat these barriers, Congress, regulators, and policy makers have built numerous pathways to temporary and permanent immigration statuses and protections. In this interactive session, participants will examine protections such as VAWA self petitions, the U visa, the T visa, and adjustments of status based on these protections. We will review the current requirements and discuss the best evidence to prove a survivor’s eligibility.
Speakers:
- Cristina Velez, Legal & Policy Director, ASISTA
- Rebecca Eissenova, Senior Staff Attorney, ASISTA
Session 2: Inadmissibility Grounds and their Effects on Survivor-Based Relief (2 hrs.)
Grounds of inadmissibility are often present in survivor-based cases, but there are also often ways to overcome them and still obtain relief. In this interactive session, participants will review grounds of inadmissibility common for survivors, as well as the bases for obtaining waivers or exceptions. The session will build on knowledge from Session 1 to assess hypothetical clients’ facts and determine eligibility for relief.
Speakers:
- Kelly Byrne, Staff Attorney, ASISTA
- Lia Ocasio, Staff Attorney, ASISTA
Session 3: Trauma-Informed Lawyering in Troubling Times (2 hrs.)
The current high-enforcement landscape is troubling to immigrant survivors, many of whom have already suffered feelings of extreme fear and powerlessness, which may resurface. In this session, participants will delve into trauma-informed advocacy methods, from intake to decision. We will explore best practices for working with clients who have experienced trauma, and reflect on the ways secondary or vicarious trauma can impact effective advocacy.
Speakers:
- Anna Obregon, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
- Rebecca Eissenova, Senior Staff Attorney, ASISTA.
Session 4: Strategy Development in High Enforcement Moments (2 hrs.)
Building on knowledge from the first three sessions, we close the conference by preparing participants to meet the present moment of high immigration enforcement. Survivors can no longer expect leniency from ICE or immigration adjudicators just because of their sensitive experiences, but they still retain certain protections. This session will consider hypothetical scenarios to understand how to identify risks of various strategies, address enforcement concerns with anxious clients, and effectively adapt when the landscape seems to change each day.
Speakers:
- Maha Khalil, Supervising Attorney, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)
- Cristina Velez, Legal & Policy Director, ASISTA
- Lia Ocasio, Staff Attorney, ASISTA
Disclaimer: Content is current as of date of recording. It is your responsibility to ensure content is up to date. Written materials accompany the recording. Please note that you will not receive CLE credit for watching the recording.
