Immigration law imposes its harshest consequences on noncitizens who have a conviction, or even evidence of conduct relating to, a drug crime. This is an especially fast-changing area of crim/imm, and new defenses are emerging each year. In this interactive webinar, we will present a comprehensive overview of the potential consequences and an explanation of established and potential defenses in this area. This will include an update on how the “categorical approach” to analyzing a drug conviction can save the day.
Presenters:
Kathy Brady, ILRC Senior Staff Attorney
Kathy has served with the ILRC since 1987 and has contributed to numerous ILRC projects. Kathy graduated from Stanford University and Boalt Hall School of Law. She taught immigration law as an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University and New College School of Law, and supervised students at the Stanford University Law School Immigration Clinic. Her expertise includes the immigration consequences of criminal convictions; issues affecting immigrant children and mixed families; immigration consultant and consumer fraud; naturalization; family immigration; legal status for immigrant victims of domestic violence through the Violence Against Women Act provisions (VAWA); and trial skills. She is the primary author of Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit, which in its current form and as the former California Criminal Law and Immigration has been a publication since 1990. With Norton Tooby, she is the co-author of the 2014 CEB publication California Criminal Defense of Immigrants, and for many years was co-author of the section on defending noncitizens in the CEB manual California Criminal Law: Procedure and Practice. She also is a co-author of the ILRC's Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and the Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Courts. She has helped found coalitions and projects to address these issues, including serving as a co-founder of the Defending Immigrants Partnership and the Immigrant Justice Network. She authored briefs in key Ninth Circuit cases on immigration and crimes. In 2007, she received the Carol King award for advocacy from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and she served as a Commissioner to the ABA Commission on Immigration from 2009-2012. Prior to working at the ILRC, Kathy was in private practice with the immigration firm of Park and Associates. She is conversant in Spanish.
Michael K. Mehr – Law Offices of Michael K. Mehr
Michael K. Mehr is a nationally recognized expert in the field of immigration consequences of criminal convictions. He lectures widely to immigration attorneys, public defenders, and private criminal defense counsel. He is a co-author of several immigration and crimes publications, including ILRC’s Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit and the chapter on defending immigrants in California Criminal Defense – Procedure and Practice (CEB). He served as the expert witness in immigration law in the landmark California Appeals Court case of People v. Bautista (2004)115 Cal.App.4th 229, which held that failure to defend against an aggravated felony can be ineffective assistance of counsel, and he was counsel in several key published decisions on crim/imm in the Ninth Circuit.
Graciela Martinez, Deputy Public Defender-Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office
Ms. Martinez is a deputy public defender with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. She consults with and advises attorneys in her Office and other criminal defense attorneys throughout California on issues relating to criminal convictions and the resultant immigration penalties. As a guide for criminal defense attorneys, Ms. Martinez writes and regularly updates written materials that effectively and simply communicate the interplay between criminal and immigration law. Her corroborative work has been instrumental in strengthening the professional relationships between criminal defense and immigration attorneys. Ms. Martinez works closely with outside organizations such as the California Public Defender’s Association, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Public Counsel, and ACLU. She has lectured on the interplay between criminal and immigration law at UCLA Law School, UCI Law School, and Loyola Law School. She is presently on the board of the California Public Defender’s Association and is a member of their Legislative Committee.
Moderator:
Angie Junck, ILRC Supervising Attorney
Angie is a supervising attorney at the ILRC. She joined the ILRC in 2005 as a New Voices fellow. She specializes in the immigration consequences of crime and delinquency, immigration enforcement, and immigrant youth issues. She is a co-author of several ILRC publications including, Defending Immigrants in the Ninth Circuit: The Impact of Crimes under California and Other State Laws, Remedies and Strategies for Permanent Resident Clients, and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children & Youth. She helps coordinate two national collaboratives that address the intersection of the immigration and criminal justice systems—the Defending Immigrants Project, a collaborative devoted to protecting the rights of immigrants accused of crimes by providing advocacy and support within the criminal justice system and the Immigrant Justice Network, a collaborative to eliminate unjust immigration penalties for immigrants and end the criminalization of immigrant communities. She sits on the American Bar Association's Immigration Commission and is the co-chair of the Immigration Committee of the ABA's Criminal Justice Section. Prior to joining the ILRC, she worked on post-conviction relief for immigrants at the Law Offices of Norton Tooby and advocated on behalf of incarcerated survivors of domestic violence as the co-coordinator of Free Battered Women and a member of the Habeas Project. She is a proficient Spanish speaker.