On Sept. 7, the Center for Immigrants’ Rights and the Centre County Women’s Resource Center’s Civil Legal Representation Project will be co-sponsoring “Immigration Remedies for Victims of Domestic Abuse,” an in depth Continuing Legal Education program featuring immigration and domestic violence experts about the laws relating to U visa, T visa, and VAWA protections. A panel of immigration law experts will examine the policies and politics of serving immigrant victims and discuss strategies for handling such cases.
In addition to Professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, director for the Center for Immigrants' Rights, panelists include:
-- Rocío Alcántar, supervising attorney, National Immigrant Justice Center
-- Justine Andronici, director, Centre County Women's Resource Center's Civil Legal Representation Project
-- Rena Cutlip-Mason, senior adviser, Office of Citizenship and Immigration Service Ombudsman, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
-- Lisa Hurlbutt, staff attorney, HIAS Pennsylvania
-- Joanne Lin, legislative counsel, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
-- Leslye Orloff, associate vice president and director, National Immigrant Women's Advocacy Project
-- Christie Popp, directing attorney, Immigrants' and Language Rights Center, Indiana Legal Services, Inc.
“We are thrilled to host some of the brightest lawyers who work tirelessly on behalf of immigrant survivors of domestic abuse and crimes. I hope the program provides students, lawyers and the community with practical tools and knowledge about the remedies available under immigration law,” said Wadhia.
The program will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Greg Sutliff Auditorium at the Lewis Katz Building, University Park, Pa., and be simulcast to Carlisle, Pa. “Immigration Remedies for Victims of Domestic Abuse” is free to the public and to those not seeking CLE credit. Attorneys who wish to earn CLE credit may register for $99 (reduced to $49 for Penn State Law alumni and public interest attorneys). The Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board has approved this event for 5.0 hours of substantive law, practice, and procedure credit and zero hours of ethics, substance abuse, and professionalism credit. All participant are asked to register online. For more information about the program, visit http://law.psu.edu/immigration_remedies.
CCWRC is a nonprofit organization located in State College, Pa., that offers a range of services, including emergency shelter, counseling, advocacy, transitional housing, and legal services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Launched in 2008, Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights is an immigration policy clinic where students work on innovative advocacy and policy projects relating to U.S. immigration, primarily through the representation of immigrant advocacy organizations.