2025 Fall Virtual CLE Seminar: Responding to Immigration Enforcement

2025 Fall Virtual CLE Seminar

Responding to Immigration Enforcement: Accountability Tactics in Immigration and Federal Court

Thursday, October 9, 2025 - 11:oo AM - 5:45 PM (ET)/ 8:00 AM - 2:45 PM (PT)

Location: Zoom Webinar

(345 Minutes of Instruction – 5.75 Total CLE Credits)

CLE Description: 

Immigration advocates are on the frontlines of the administration’s attack on immigrants and the rule of law. This day-long, virtual training will discuss current trends and strategies to fight for our clients and our communities against ICE’s expanding power and unlawful actions.

11:00 AM - 11:10 AM ET: Welcome and Introduction 

11:10 AM - 12:10 PM ET: Session 1 - Fighting Further Unfairness in Immigration Court 

(1 hour - 1.00 CLE Credits)

Description: Increasingly, immigration court is becoming another arm of the growing deportation machine, rather than a forum where noncitizens can hope to obtain a fair adjudication. This panel will highlight procedural changes in immigration court, including: IJ grants of DHS motions to dismiss; pretermission of asylum claims; diminished notice; and docket shuffling and expediting hearings. The panelists will discuss strategies to fight these procedures, including through motion practice, and how to ensure that there is a strong record for appeal. 

Faculty:  

Amanda Aguilar, Staff Attorney, American Gateways

Perry McAninch, Staff Attorney, Federal Practice, The Legal Aid Society

Victoria Neilson, Supervising Attorney, National Immigration Project

12:10 PM - 12:20 PM ET: Break 

12:20 PM - 1:35 PM ET: Session 2 - Fighting for a Bond Hearing and Against the Expansion of Mandatory Detention 

(1 hour and 15 minutes - 1.25 CLE Credits)

Description: At the same time as Congress has handed ICE a staggering level of funding for immigration detention, the administration has adopted positions on mandatory, no-bond detention that were previously unthinkable. This panel will focus on two groups of noncitizens who may be detained during immigration court removal proceedings: (1) those who entered the United States without inspection–whether or not they were originally apprehended shortly after entry, and (2) those with certain criminal history impacted by the recent changes to the law made through the Laken Riley Act. The panelists will discuss the BIA decision, Matter of Q. Li, 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025), the July 2025 ICE memo about the detention of people who entered the United States without inspection, and DHS motions to stay IJ bond grants. This presentation will focus on arguments to fight these expansions of purported detention authority.

Faculty: 

Elizabeth Badger, Program Manager, Justice for Immigrant Families, PAIR Project

Andrea Saenz, Senior Counsel, Co-Counsel NYC

Rebecca Scholtz, Senior Attorney, National Immigration Project

1:35 PM - 1:45 PM ET: Break

1:45 PM - 3:15 PM ET: Session 3 - Fighting for Liberty in Federal Court

(1 hour and 30 minutes - 1.50 CLE Credits)

Description: Picking up on the expansion of mandatory detention discussed by the prior panel, this webinar will focus on federal litigation options to fight against mandatory detention, unlawful re-detention, and expanded expedited removal. The panel will discuss using habeas in this context to fight the growing wave of unlawful detention and removal.

Faculty:

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Partner and Head of Litigation, Murray Osorio, PLLC

Gracie Willis, Raids Response Coordinator, National Immigration Project

3:15 - 3:30 PM ET: Break

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM ET: Session 4 - Fighting for Damages 

(1 hour - 1.00 CLE Credits)

Description: As the government increasingly violates the rights of noncitizens and citizens alike, an important tool for redress is seeking monetary damages in federal court. This presentation will give a brief introduction to Bivens claims, 1983 claims, and the FTCA. The panel will discuss how these damage-based suits can be used on behalf of deported U.S. citizen children, on behalf of noncitizens who were unlawfully sent to CECOT, and on behalf of those whose Fourth Amendment rights have been violated.

Faculty: 

Michelle N. Mendez, Director of Legal Resources and Training, National Immigration Project 

Michelle Lapointe, Legal Director, American Immigration Council

4:30 - 4:40 PM ET: Break

4:40 - 5:40 ET: Session 5 - Federal Litigation Roundup 

(1 hour - 1.00 CLE Credits)

Description: Immigration advocates are valiantly fighting in federal court against seemingly-daily changes to immigration law. This panel will give an overview of some of the most pressing issues facing immigration advocates and their clients, and provide timely updates on the state of current litigation challenging unlawful ICE enforcement. Topics will include: the Alien Enemies Act; expansion of expedited removal; courthouse arrests; the Lyons memo; and the termination of deferred action for noncitizens with approved Special Immigration Juvenile Status.

Faculty: 

Stephanie Alvarez-Jonez, Southeast Regional Attorney, National Immigration Project

Anand Balakrishnan, Senior Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project

5:40 - 5:45 PM ET: Closing & Announcements

CLE sponsored by

The National Immigration Project

CLE Credits

Applications for 5.75 CLE credits are pending with the State Bar of California, the State Bar of Texas, and the Washington State Bar Association.

Uniform certificates of attendance will be available to those licensed in other states.

Group Registration Discounts:  We offer a 10% discount for groups of 5 to 10 and 15% discount for groups of 11 or more. To take advantage of the group registration discount organizations must:

-Submit a complete list* of registrants (Group Registration Form) to events@nipnlg.org. Link to Group Registration Form - HERE. (Please download the Google sheet to edit it.)

-Pay a singular invoice for registration fees.

Payment can be made via ACH, Credit Card, or Check. *Please note that group registration list adjustments are not possible after an invoice has been issued.

Tuition Assistance and Student Pricing: Tuition assistance is available based on financial hardship or student status. Attorneys should send an email to events@nipnlg.org with the reason they are requesting financial aid. This inbox is monitored daily.