Level: Intermediate
California voters passed Proposition 36 in November 2024. Prop 36, plus some similar laws passed by the legislature, now make it possible for prosecutors to charge misdemeanor drug possession and some misdemeanor property offenses (e.g., petty theft) as felonies if the person has certain prior convictions. Conviction under the new laws can cause extremely harsh immigration consequences. For one thing, under Prop 36, a conviction for possessing a small amount of a drug can become a “drug trafficking aggravated felony” if the defendant has had two or more prior drug convictions anytime in their adult life. This webinar will examine the elements of the new offenses and identify which ones may be aggravated felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude for immigration purposes. We will explore defense strategies in immigration and criminal proceedings, walk through case examples and exercises, and have time for discussion. If the federal Laken Riley Act has become law, we will discuss its provisions that affect mandatory detention.
Presenters
Kathy Brady, Directing Attorney - Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Kathy Brady is a Staff Attorney based in San Francisco. She has worked with the ILRC since 1987. Along with expertise in family immigration, immigrant children and youth, and removal defense, she is a national expert on the intersection of immigration and criminal law. She is a frequent speaker and consultant, and has co-authored several manuals including Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit (ILRC), California Criminal Defense of Immigrants (CEB), the chapter on representing immigrants in California Criminal Law – Procedure and Practice (CEB), and Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Courts (ILRC). She helped found coalitions and projects to address these issues, including as a co-founder of the Defending Immigrants Partnership and the Immigrant Justice Network. Kathy served as a Commissioner to the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration from 2009-2012. In 2007 she received the Carol King award of advocacy from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.Before working at the ILRC Kathy was in private practice in immigration law with Park & Associates in San Francisco.Kathy attended Stanford University and the University of California Berkeley School of Law, and has taught immigration law as an adjunct professor. She is a member of the California Bar and is conversant in Spanish.
Merle Kahn, Senior Attorney Contractor - Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Merle Kahn has been exclusively practicing immigration law for over thirty years. For the past fifteen years she has been increasingly focusing her practice on the intersection of criminal and immigration law and on removal defense. She has vast experience in removal defense, federal appeals, the immigration consequences of crimes, family immigration, naturalization, and humanitarian immigration such as asylum, VAWA and U visas. She provides technical assistance through the ILRC’s Attorney of the Day program mentoring and assisting public defenders, criminal defense attorneys, private attorneys and nonprofit attorneys and staff with a vast array of immigration law and questions.Since joining the ILRC as a consultant in 2023, she has contributed to several ILRC manuals including, Essentials of Asylum Law, Temporary Protected Status: Practice and Strategies, Removal Defense: Defending Immigrants in Immigration Court, and California Judges Benchbook: Domestic Violence Cases. She has authored practice advisories, presented webinars, led the ILRC 40 hour basic immigration law training, and has served as a panelist on a number of issues for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).Prior to joining the ILRC she was Of Counsel at Daniel Shanfield – Immigration Defense, PC, where she represented clients before USCIS, ICE, EOIR, and the Ninth Circuit. She is the creator and writer of Top of the Ninth, a blog about important Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit, and Board of Immigration Appeals immigration cases. She founded and directed a pro bono legal clinic for refugees and asylees through Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley (JFS) and AILA. In 2016 Merle was named an AILA Pro Bono Champion. Before entering the field of immigration law, Merle was a prosecutor for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for the Supreme Court of Illinois.Merle earned her law degree from The George Washington University in Washington D.C. and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she majored in English and American Literature. Merle is admitted to the California Bar.
Onyx Starrett, Deputy Public Defender - County of Santa Barbara Public Defender Office
Onyx Starrett (they/them) works as one of the criminal-immigration specialist at the Santa Barbara County Public Defender Office, where they provide advice and training to trial attorneys representing noncitizens and advocate for clients through post-conviction relief. Prior to their current position, they worked at Nassau County Public Defender Office, Brooklyn Defender Services, and Ventura County Public Defender as a crimmigration expert. Additionally, they initiated the Deported Veterans Project at Public Counsel in Los Angeles, California, successfully advocating for veterans to return to the U.S., many as U.S. citizens. They live with their two small dogs, Rubee and Dojo.
Carla Gomez, Head of Crim-Immigration Defense - San Mateo County Private Defender Program
Carla Gomez is the head of Crim-Immigration Defense at the Private Defender Program of San Mateo County. Prior to that, she was a Senior Staff Attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, where she focused on the intersection of criminal and immigration law, including post-conviction relief. Carla has over 20 years of criminal defense experience as both a federal and county public defender and has extensive experience as an immigration defense attorney.
Carla started her career as a Federal Public Defender in San Diego where she tried over 15 federal felony trials, argued several times before the Ninth Circuit resulting in published opinions including U.S. v. Ramirez, 273 F.3d 903, (9th Cir. 2001). Carla then became a San Francisco Public Defender where she practiced for over 15 years as a felony attorney, and, in 2017, she was part of the team that spearheaded the Immigration Unit.