Fellows of ABF to present CLE program on immigration law

The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation will present the CLE program, “Communities in Crisis: The Effects of Immigration Law and Politics on American Communities,” Saturday, Feb. 7, from 2-4:30 p.m., at the Hilton Americas Houston. The research seminar is one of several events being hosted by The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation during the 2015 Midyear Meeting of the American Bar Association, Feb. 4-10, 2015, in Houston, Texas.

Two ABF-affiliated researchers, Jamie G. Longazel, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Dayton and 2009-11 American Bar Foundation Law and Social Science Doctoral Fellow; and Patrisia Macias-Rojas, assistant professor of sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago, and ABF visiting scholar, will present original research on two communities deeply affected by immigration politics and policies: Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and the Arizona-Sonora border region.

Longazel and Macias-Rojas will be joined by: Michael A. Olivas, the Williams B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law, and Director, Institute of Higher Education Law & Governance, University of Houston, a leading scholar on the effects of immigration law on education; Christina A. Fiflis, Founding Partner of Fiflis Law LLC and Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration; and Juan P. Osuna, Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice. Fiflis is extensively involved in the representation of unaccompanied minor immigrants, and is co-chair of the ABA presidential Working Group on Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants. Osuna has been involved with efforts to expand legal representation for unaccompanied minors.

In a New York Times Letter to the Editor in December, “Legal Help for Immigrants,” ABA President William C. Hubbard emphasized the importance of the legal profession’s commitment to immigrants in need of legal help. Hubbard wrote, “The American Bar Association and countless other lawyers’ groups have long worked to ensure access to counsel for asylum applicants and other immigration detainees, and for good reason. Competent legal representation for children and others in adversarial proceedings serves not only the clients but also the court process, ensuring more fairness and efficiency.”

Robert L. Nelson, director of the American Bar Foundation said, “This seminar will examine from the perspectives of scholars, lawyers, and government officials how
immigration politics and policies are posing serious dilemmas for American communities.”
This CLE program is sponsored by the Commission on Immigration, Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, ABA Section on Family Law, and the Commission on Youth
at Risk.

This CLE program is free for anyone registered for the ABA Midyear Meeting.