Immigration Law Section: Updates in Asylum Law

This webinar, hosted by the Immigration Law Section’s Newer Lawyers Division, features experts in the field of asylum to discuss changes that have occurred in recent years involving this area of law. Asylum law has seen massive changes, and then reversions of some of these changes, in ways that impact thousands of individuals seeking asylum, and the panelists invited have been at the forefront of some of the litigation surrounding these changes. Topics to be discuss include changes in the law surrounding Particular Social Groups and work authorization for asylum seekers, as well as the current “state of play” for asylum in United States.

Presented by: Immigration Law Section

Registration is Closed

Presenters

Bradley Jenkins, Senior Litigation Counsel, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project

Bradley Jenkins is Senior Litigation Counsel at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP). Bradley represents asylum seekers in ASAP’s strategic litigation.

Prior to joining ASAP, Bradley worked for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). At CLINIC, Bradley managed the BIA Pro Bono Project and litigated significant cases before federal courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Attorney General.

Bradley has been counsel is several significant cases advancing the rights of asylum seekers including:

• Matter of L-E-A-, 28 I&N Dec. 304 (A.G. 2021), vacating an Attorney General decision that blocked people from asylum if their family was threatened;
• Matter of E-R-A-L-, 27 I&N Dec. 767 (BIA 2020), vacated by Albizures-Lopez v. Barr, No. 20-70640, 2020 WL 7406164 (9th Cir. Dec. 10, 2020), vacating a Board of Immigration Appeals decision suggesting that “typical families” and landowners could not be protected by the asylum laws;
• LM.-M. v. Cuccinelli, 442 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2020), declaring harmful anti-asylum policies to be void because the official who made the policies was unlawfully appointed; and
• Matter of Deang, 27 I&N Dec. 57 (BIA 2017), setting a precedent that certain receiving stolen property offenses are not aggravated felonies that bar applicants from obtaining asylum or withholding of removal.

Bradley is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Maryland bar.

Neela Chakravartula, Managing Attorney, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies

Neela Chakravartula is a Managing Attorney at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS).  Neela provides legal technical assistance and training to advocates, and engages in litigation to protect the rights of asylum seekers. Neela additionally oversees the Center ‘s Experts Witness Database which connects advocates with expert witnesses in fear-of-return claims for relief.

Neela came to CGRS after working for four years as a staff attorney at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where she researched and reviewed cases raising claims for asylum and related forms of relief. Neela also worked in New York City for three years, representing clients in a variety of civil matters. Neela began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the Ninth Circuit.

Neela is a graduate of Barnard College, and earned her J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Franicsco, cum laude.

Registration

Registration is Closed

Registration for this event will close December 8 at 2PM ET.

FBA Members – $0
Nonmembers – $75

Registrants will receive Zoom login details on the day before the event

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No refunds will be made for cancellations received after the close of business on November 1, 2022. No-shows will be billed. Substitutions may be made at any time upon notification. Please contact Daniel Hamilton at dhamilton@fedbar.org with cancellation and/or substitution requests.

CLE

Please note that CLE credit is not offered for this webinar.

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