The immigration landscape is shifting rapidly. Recent federal actions have expanded detention authority, including mandatory detention without bond hearings for certain noncitizens already living in the U.S., imposed sweeping restrictions on asylum seekers, and sparked legal challenges in courts, including the Ninth Circuit. Reports of multiple deaths in immigration custody have intensified debate over enforcement and humanitarian protections, while cuts to food, housing, and health assistance have placed additional strain on refugee and noncitizen households nationwide.

On Tuesday, May 5, at 10 am PT, the Pacific Council and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) are hosting a webinar to examine the evolving landscape of refugee protection and immigration policy in the U.S. Against the backdrop of intense national debate over federal enforcement and asylum policy, including nationwide protests over ICE enforcement practices and ongoing litigation shaping asylum eligibility at the U.S.–Mexico border, this conversation will unpack how current policy shifts affect refugees and immigrants along with the legal frameworks intended to protect them. Members will hear from Olga Byrne, Senior Director, Asylum & Legal Protection at IRC, Courtney McCausland, Immigration Attorney and Managing Attorney at IRC, Manuel Orozco, Director of the Migration, Remittances, and Development Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, and Professor Jean Lantz Reisz, Co-Director, USC Immigration Clinic, and Clinical Associate Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law.

Why it's important:

• The administration reinterpreted immigration law to allow mandatory detention without bond hearings for certain noncitizens already living in the U.S., not just recent border arrivals.
• Authorities in Buffalo determined that the death of a Rohingya refugee, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, was a homicide. The case comes amid reports of multiple deaths in immigration custody or related contexts this year, intensifying debate over enforcement policies and humanitarian protections.
• Under a new Trump administration policy, refugees who have not applied for a green card after being legally in the United States for a year could be arrested so they can be "inspected and examined for admission." 

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

In partnership with:

 

 

Guest Speaker

Olga Byrne has 20 years of experience promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees. As Senior Director, Asylum & Legal Protection with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Olga oversees legal and humanitarian services for people seeking protection in the US and Europe. Prior to joining IRC, Olga was senior researcher at Human Rights First, where she conducted research and fact-finding on US asylum and refugee policy. Before that, Olga directed the Unaccompanied Children Project at Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice. Olga was a 2011-2012 US Fulbright-Schuman Scholar in the European Union studying child rights in the context of migration, and from 2006 to 2011, she worked at the Vera Institute of Justice on US programs to increase access to legal services for adults and children in U.S. immigration custody. Olga is a graduate of Cornell University and Fordham University School of Law.

Guest Speaker

Courtney McCausland is a practicing immigration attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she serves as a Managing Attorney at the International Rescue Committee. She has represented individuals and families before USCIS, various Immigration Courts, in appeals to the BIA and Ninth Circuit, and in various California State Court hearings. At the IRC, Courtney works to expand access to justice and provide legal services to immigrant communities in Northern California. Prior to joining IRC, Courtney worked as the Co-Director of the Immigration Unit at the East Bay Community Law Center. She is also a Lecturer on Legal Research & Writing at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She has a particular passion for serving women, and her professional interests include advocacy and policy making in the social justice areas of immigration, gender and racial equity, reproductive justice, and human rights.

Guest Speaker

Manuel Orozco is the director of the Migration, Remittances, and Development Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. He also serves as a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Development and as a senior adviser with the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Orozco has conducted extensive research, policy analysis, and advocacy on issues relating to global flows of remittances as well as migration and development worldwide. He is chair of Central America and the Caribbean at the US Foreign Service Institute and senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.

Orozco frequently testifies before Congress and has spoken before the United Nations. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA in public administration and Latin American studies, and a BA in international relations from the National University of Costa Rica.

Orozco has published widely on remittances, Latin America, globalization, democracy, migration, conflict in war-torn societies, and minority politics. His books include International Norms and Mobilization for Democracy (2002), Remittances: Global Opportunities for International Person-to-Person Money Transfers (2005), América Latina y el Caribe: Desarrollo, migración y remesas (2012), and Migrant Remittances and Development in the Global Economy (2013).

Moderator

Professor Jean Reisz teaches and co-directs the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, and teaches the Immigration Detention and Appellate Clinic and the Legal Profession courses. Under her supervision, second- and third-year law students represent individuals in removal proceedings seeking humanitarian forms of relief such as asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture before the Immigration Court, Board of Immigration Appeals, and Federal Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit. Clinic students also represent unlawfully detained immigrants in habeas corpus petitions before the U.S. District Court and noncitizens seeking other immigration relief including Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) immigrant visa petitions, crime victim visas (U visa status petitions), DACA, permanent residence, and citizenship. In addition, Reisz teaches the undergraduate course, LAW 212 – Immigration for a New America.

As co-director of the Immigration Clinic, Reisz oversees the Immigrant Legal Assistance Center, which provides free legal assistance to USC students, faculty, staff and their families, in connection with immigration-related issues. The clinic also partners with AltaMed and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in providing immigration assistance and representation to immigrant children and their families at the medical-legal clinic, La Linterna. Reisz also consults on television and motion picture productions as an immigration expert through the Norman Lear Center, Hollywood Health and Society.

Reisz was a trial attorney for six years at the Los Angeles County Public Defender and Alternate Public Defender handling misdemeanor and felony cases in downtown Los Angeles and Compton. Prior to joining USC Gould, Reisz was a senior associate at Archer Norris, PLC. Reisz joined USC Gould in 2014 as the Audrey Irmas Clinical Teaching Fellow, a position she held for three years. Reisz graduated from USC Gould School of Law.

 

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.