This beginner webinar will describe the elements of a U visa with a discussion of current adjudication trends and how to evaluate the strength of a U visa case, including how to analyze the qualifying crime, discuss strategy with clients, and prepare the U visa filing.
Presenters
Alison Kamhi - Supervising Attorney, ILRC
Alison Kamhi is a Supervising Attorney based in San Francisco. Alison is a dedicated immigrant advocate who brings significant experience in immigration law to the ILRC. Alison provides technical assistance through the ILRC’s Attorney of the Day program on a wide range of immigration issues, including immigration options for youth, consequences of criminal convictions for immigration purposes, removal defense strategy, and eligibility for immigration relief, including family-based immigration, U visas, VAWA, DACA, cancellation of removal, asylum, and naturalization. She leads ILRC’s project on driver’s licenses for immigrants, and also conducts frequent in-person and webinar trainings on naturalization, family-based immigration, U visas, FOIA requests, and parole in immigration law.
She has co-authored a number of publications, including The U Visa: Obtaining Status for Immigrant Victims of Crimes (ILRC); Parole in Immigration Law (ILRC); FOIA Requests and Other Background Checks (ILRC); Hardship in Immigration Law (ILRC); Naturalization and U.S. Citizenship (ILRC); Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children and Youth (ILRC); A Guide for Immigrant Advocates (ILRC); and Most In Need But Least Served: Legal and Practical Barriers to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for Federally Detained Minors, 50 Fam. Ct. Rev. 4 (2012).
Prior to the ILRC, Alison worked as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic, where she supervised removal defense cases and immigrants' rights advocacy projects. Before Stanford, she represented abandoned and abused immigrant youth as a Skadden Fellow at Bay Area Legal Aid and at Catholic Charities Community Services in New York. While in law school, Alison worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, and Greater Boston Legal Services Immigration Unit. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Julia Gibbons in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Alison received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Stanford University. Alison is admitted to the bar in California and New York. She speaks German and Spanish.
Angel Graf - Directing Attorney, Las Vegas Office of the Immigration Center for Women and Children
Angel Graf is the Directing Attorney for the Las Vegas Office of the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC). Angel received her B.A. from Elmhurst College, her M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. In law school Angel interned for Life Span Center for Legal Services and Advocacy and the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic. Before receiving her law license in 2012, Angel worked as an Immigration and Naturalization Assistant at World Relief Chicago’s Immigrant Legal Services. She also attended DePaul’s Immigration Clinic, participated in a DePaul based U visa assistance program, and volunteered with ProBAR in Harlingen, Texas. After law school Angel joined the Kansas City, Missouri Immigration Court as an Attorney Advisor. From 2014 until 2019 she worked in the San Francisco office of ICWC. As the lead attorney in the Las Vegas office, Angel maintains a diverse caseload of humanitarian based protection cases (including U Visa, T Visa, VAWA, and Asylum), family based and waiver cases, naturalization, and removal representation before EOIR. She also provides regional and national trainings focused on U Visa and VAWA.