An absence from the U.S. can affect one’s ability to naturalize in a myriad of ways. During this webinar, we will discuss the different ways in which an absence from the U.S. can affect a client’s naturalization application, including the effect upon his or her continuous residence, physical presence, abandonment of residence, and removability. We will discuss the law, important cases, and hypothetical cases.
Presenters:
Eric Cohen, ILRC Executive Director
Has been with the ILRC since 1988 and has extensive experience training attorneys, paralegals, community advocates, and organizers on a variety of immigration law, immigrants’ rights, and leadership development topics. Eric is a national expert on naturalization and citizenship law and is the primary author of the ILRC’s manual entitled, Naturalization and U.S. Citizenship: The Essential Legal Guide for Legal Practitioners. Eric has served as a liaison between community groups and CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) officials for the San Francisco Bay Area since 1994. Additionally, Eric helped develop ILRC's community model for effectively processing naturalization applications in groups and trained both legal workers and lay advocates in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and works with community organizers and others on voter education for naturalized citizens. Prior to working at the ILRC, Eric worked with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Labor Immigrant Assistance Project where he worked on legalization and union organizing campaigns. He is conversant in Spanish.
Erin Quinn, ILRC Staff Attorney
Erin Quinn has been an immigration defense attorney for over 10 years and holds a joint degree in law and public policy (JD/MPP) from the University of Michigan. At the ILRC, Erin’s work focuses on building capacity of organizations and practitioners to assist immigrants. She conducts trainings and provides legal expertise on immigration law through ILRC’s Attorney of the Day program. In addition, Erin has contributed to numerous ILRC publications as author or editor, including Removal Defense: Defending Immigrants in Immigration Court; Essentials of Asylum and many others. Prior to coming to the ILRC, Erin represented immigrants in all aspects of their immigration matters, with an emphasis on removal defense and complex cases. She was owner and attorney at her own firm for 5 years after defending immigrants as an associate at the Law Office of Robert B. Jobe. Her experience in immigration law and policy includes working as a fellow for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, EU headquarters in Belgium; clerking for the Immigration Court of San Francisco; and teaching courses as a lecturer at CSU Eastbay. Originally from Fresno, California, Erin loves teaching, language and travel. She lived in Romania for over two years as a Peace Corps volunteer and worked in Hungary as a teacher trainer. In addition she has traveled, studied and taught in Central America, South Africa and Europe. Erin is on the Advisory Council for the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), in which she serves as Pro Bono Coordinator and Liaison for Consumer Protection. She is a member of the California Bar.