Level: Intermediate
This webinar will cover eligibility for self-petitions under the Violence Against Women Act, discuss practice tips for representing survivors of domestic violence, and explain updates in law and policy for VAWA self-petitions, including new I-360 interviews.
Presenters
Alison Kamhi - Legal Program Director, ILRC
Alison Kamhi is the Legal Program Director based in San Francisco. Alison is a dedicated immigrant advocate who brings significant experience in immigration law to the ILRC. Alison leads the ILRC's Immigrant Survivors Team and conducts frequent in-person and webinar trainings on naturalization and citizenship, family-based immigration, U visas, and FOIA requests. She also 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 has co-authored a number of publications, including The U Visa: Obtaining Status for Immigrant Victims of Crimes (ILRC); FOIA Requests and Other Background Checks (ILRC); Naturalization and U.S. Citizenship (ILRC); Hardship in Immigration Law (ILRC); Parole in Immigration Law (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).
Alison facilitates the eight member Collaborative Resources for Immigrant Services on the Peninsula (CRISP) collaborative in San Mateo County to provide immigration services to low-income immigrants in Silicon Valley.
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.
Catherine Seitz - Legal Director, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA)
Catherine Seitz is the Legal Director at the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area. She is a former Chair for the Northern California chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and co-author of the ILRC’s U Visa Manual. Catherine has a J.D. from U.C. Hastings and a B.A. in Latin American Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She has been working in the field of immigration law since 1990 starting out as a legal assistant and then a BIA Accredited Representative before her admission to the California Bar in December of 2001. Before joining the Immigration Institute in February of 2019, she worked at Legal Services for Children as their Legal Director and Bay Area Legal Aid as their Regional Immigration Coordinator where she focused on immigration relief for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Prior to that, she worked at Canal Alliance, the International Institute of the East Bay, and the private immigration law firm of Simmons & Ungar. She is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Brooke Parr - Directing Attorney, Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) San Diego
Brooke joined ICWC in 2011, helping to introduce ICWC services to the San Diego community. She represents clients in VAWA, U Visa, Adjustment of Status, guardianship, SIJS, and DACA cases. Brooke often provides trainings to local law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations on U Visa and VAWA. Prior to ICWC, Brooke worked at Casa Cornelia Law Center (CCLC) in San Diego, devoting her time to providing free legal services to indigent immigrants. During her time with CCLC, Brooke held various positions, including Pro Bono Program Director and Domestic Violence Program Director. Brooke received her J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Spanish. During her time at USC, Brooke worked as an intern at Public Counsel Law Center in Los Angeles and participated in USC’s Children’s Rights Clinic. She gained experience assisting families who were adopting children who had been abused, abandoned, or neglected and assisted attorneys with guardianship and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases. She also served as Notes Editor for her honors journal, Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice (RLSJ) and authored a publication for RLSJ, regarding the benefits received by families adopting children from the foster care system who have special needs. Brooke is admitted to the California bar and is fluent in Spanish.
Cecelia Levin - Senior Policy Counsel, ASISTA