There is a large unmet need for immigration legal services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking.  Abusers, offenders and perpetrators of crime often use a person’s lack of immigration status as a principal control mechanism and a means of exploitation.  If immigration legal services are local and available then survivors of crime may regularize their status and be able to leave the abusive relationship or cooperate fully with law enforcement to convict the offender. Lack of capacity to respond to immigration issues puts survivors of crime at a severe disadvantage.

Department of Justice (DOJ) agency recognition and staff accreditation is the certification of nonprofit legal immigration programs and their staff that allows non-attorneys to practice immigration law as authorized representatives.  Increasing the number of DOJ recognized agency locations and accredited staff is essential to responding to the immigration legal services needs of immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

With the support of the Office on Violence Against Women, CLINIC has been able to provide grantees with substantive immigration law training and assistance with the application for DOJ recognition and accreditation. Please join this webinar if you would like to learn more about the training and technical assistance that CLINIC will be offering to grantees in 2018. During the webinar we will be joined by Claudia Fullerton from the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence who will provide information about obtaining staff accreditation.  Presenters will provide a brief overview of the recognition and accreditation process and explain the topics and format of immigration law trainings to be offered.

Presented by:

U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), in partnership with

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

Registration: This webinar is open to OVW grantees and grant partners. For registration information contact Silvana Arista at sarista@cliniclegal.org or (301) 565-4827.

This project is supported by Grant No. 2014-TA-AX-K028 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this program are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.