We would like to invite all members of the community to a training/talk on the disproportionate immigration consequences of criminal convictions on March 27th, 2017 from 4-7pm at Georgetown University Law Center, McDonough Hall Room 156. The training will cover mitigation of immigration consequences in criminal court, with a focus on Virginia offenses, and challenges to the classification of state offenses as triggering deportation in immigration court.
You are cordially invited to:
A Training and Discussion on the Disproportionate Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions
Monday, March 27, 2017
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Georgetown University Law Center
McDonough Hall Room 156
Noncitizens in the criminal justice system face significantly enhanced penalties compared to citizens charged with the same offenses. Even the most minor convictions can have harsh immigration consequences, including prolonged detention, family separation for longtime residents, and deportation to unfamiliar or dangerous countries. These consequences can sometimes be avoided or reduced by timely, accurate advice about the immigration consequences of criminal dispositions. When involvement in the criminal system does trigger removal proceedings, noncitizens are frequently subject to mandatory, no-bond immigration detention and mandatory deportation and often must face immigration court with no representation as there is no right to government-appointed counsel. However, with the assistance of counsel trained in the intersection of criminal and immigration law, noncitizens may challenge the designation of their criminal offenses as triggering deportation under federal immigration law. This talk will provide an overview of the criminal-immigration detention-deportation pipeline, the basics of crim-imm law, defenses against immigration consequences in the criminal system, and challenges to the classification of state offenses as removable offenses in immigration court and through appellate litigation.
Rachel Jordan (L’13) Senior Attorney, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
Adina Appelbaum (L’15) Equal Justice Works Fellow, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
Adina Appelbaum and Rachel Jordan are immigration attorneys at the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition working at the intersection of criminal and immigration law to defend noncitizens facing immigration detention and deportation. Through CAIR Coalition's Virginia Justice Program, Adina and Rachel work collaboratively in both the criminal and immigration systems but focus respectively on each system. In the criminal system, Rachel trains and advises indigent criminal defense attorneys across Virginia on defending noncitizen clients from immigration consequences stemming from criminal dispositions pursuant to the 2010 Supreme Court case Padilla v. Kentucky. In the immigration system, Adina heads impact litigation through the Crim-Imm Pro Bono Project to challenge Immigration and Customs Enforcement's categorization of certain state criminal offenses as triggering grounds of deportation and works to increase access to pro bono counsel trained in the intersection of criminal and immigration law.
For additional information, please contact pwg7@law.georgetown.edu.
