Level: All
The Immigration and Nationality Act states that any noncitizen in the United States may apply for asylum. However, the statute contains several bars to receiving asylum, and regulations and policies introduced by recent presidential administrations have further curtailed access to asylum. This is the second part of a three-part series on asylum bars. In this webinar, we will focus on four of the nine statutory bars: the one-year filing deadline, previous asylum denial, firm resettlement, and the safe third country bar. We will delve into how to screen for these bars and strategies to defend against application of these bars to our clients based on current policies and case law.
Presenters
Miosotti Tenecora - Staff Attorney, ILRC
Miosotti joined the ILRC September 2024 as a Staff Attorney focusing on immigrant youth and immigration enforcement issues. She is based in San Francisco, CA. Prior to joining ILRC, she was an associate attorney at Van Der Hout LLP and focused on affirmative and removal defense immigration matters. Prior to Van Der Hout LLP, she was an asylum officer at the USCIS San Francisco Asylum Office. At the asylum office, Miosotti adjudicated affirmative asylum applications, and credible and reasonable fear determinations.
Miosotti began her legal career at the non-profit, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA). At CLSEPA, Miosotti focused on both affirmative and removal defense immigration cases that included asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U visas, T visas, and other humanitarian forms of relief.
Prior to beginning her legal career, at Boston University School of Law as a public interest scholarship recipient, Miosotti participated in the International Human Rights clinic, completed a 6-month semester-in-practice externship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Dominican Republic, interned at the Bronx District Attorney’s office, and was a judicial intern at the United States District Court for Eastern District of New York.
Prior to attending law school, Miosotti worked at various non-profits/agencies advocating for human rights, such as Sanctuary for Families and the Permanent Mission of the Principality of Andorra to the United Nations.
Miosotti has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fordham University, a Master of Arts degree in international studies from Concordia University-Irvine, and a law degree from Boston University School of Law. She is a member of the California bar and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She is fluent in Spanish.
Kate Mahoney - Senior Staff Attorney, Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Kate joined the ILRC as a Senior Staff Attorney in 2023 after over a decade of experience fighting deportation in a variety of roles. Kate believes that the movement for immigrants’ liberation must be led by those most impacted, and she is humbled and constantly learning from the courageous clients and advocates whom she supports. Kate specializes in complex removal defense on behalf of detained and non-detained clients, including challenging removability, motions to suppress, applications for relief before USCIS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and federal court litigation and appeals.
Kate previously served as Legal Program Director at Dolores Street Community Services in San Francisco, where she worked closely with community partners in the Bay Area to coordinate and expand legal services for local residents facing deportation and immigration detention. In addition to direct representation, Kate also previously served as the Court-Appointed Special Monitor in Franco Gonzalez v. Holder, Case No. 10-2211 (C.D. Cal. 2010), and as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolly M. Gee in the Central District of California and at the San Francisco Immigration Court.
Kate received her law degree from U.C. Hastings College of the Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University. She is admitted to practice in California, immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Northern District of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She speaks Spanish and English.
Aruna Sury - Senior Staff Attorney, ILRC
Aruna Sury is a Senior Staff Attorney with the ILRC’s San Francisco office. Her work focuses on removal defense, administrative and federal appeals, and immigration consequences of crimes. Through the ILRC’s Attorney of the Day program, Aruna provides legal guidance to criminal defense and immigration counsel. She regularly contributes to ILRC publications by authoring and updating content that enables practitioners to provide high quality representation to their clients. Aruna also presents ILRC trainings and CLE courses on a variety of topics.
Since obtaining her law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, Aruna has dedicated her career to the areas of immigration and civil rights in various settings in San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin. She has worked in law firm and solo practice environments as well as in non-profit and public organizations, including Washington Defender Association, University of Washington, Kids in Need of Defense, and Political Asylum Project of Austin (now American Gateways). Aruna’s personal interest is in immigrants’ due process rights, particularly the right to effective counsel and expansive access to judicial review. She has litigated numerous cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as other circuit courts.