February 2025

Creating Local Solutions to National Problems

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER February 2025 Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) is a legal services and technical assistance organization that exists to mentor no-cost and low-cost immigration lawyers and legal workers; educate and serve VT immigrants and community members; coordinate maximal impact across sectors and governments; and advocate to protect immigrants’ rights. FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Click here to watch a January 21 video message from VAAP. Watch the update Greetings, friends of VAAP. We hope you are hanging in there, and we thank you for your continuing partnership. To our client communities: We recognize how grossly insufficient Vermont's current supply of legal services is compared with communities' ever-growing needs. For that reason, we are balancing direct services with systems advocacy, so we can generate more local resources and legal protections for the benefit of ALL Vermont immigrants, not just the lucky few we can represent directly.  To our volunteers and financial contributors: We are overwhelmed with gratitude for your outpouring of support and explosive interest to get involved. VAAP will resume coordinating volunteer direct services this month, in balance with our critical efforts to diversify funding sources and survive federal divestment.  To our community partners: We are so grateful for your collaboration during this overwhelming time. Our sectors are navigating this period on "hard mode" given Vermont's lack of a nonprofit coordinating body, like Upstate NY's Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (I-ARC) or the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). The challenges we are facing coordinating statewide across subpopulations is exacerbated by Vermont's lack of a state-based clearinghouse office enjoyed by about half the states, like MA's State Office for Refugees and Immigrants and NY's and ME's State Offices for New Americans. We are eager to work with you to establish statewide coordinating mechanisms that foster solidarity across subpopulations. To our leaders: We echo national partners' advice to exercise caution and verify information before sharing it forward. We also urge you to refrain from prematurely complying with evolving policy directives until agencies have established clear implementation plans. Many emerging policies are blatantly unlawful and likely to be overturned in court, or at least to face prolonged legal challenges. We need your leadership in centering rule of law and minimizing harm to communities. We pack a LOT of information into this newsletter, including self-help resources, recordings, FAQs, legislative analysis, events of interest, and more. We encourage everyone to continue familiarizing yourselves with VAAP's multilingual, multimedia resources and spread the word so impacted community members can do the same. Remember: we've been here before and we know how to fight, and we'll get through this. Read on! Thanks for all you do, Jill Martin Diaz, Esq. SUPPORT OUR WORK Every contribution, of any amount, keeps us focused on immigration lawyering at this pivotal moment in Vermont's history. We're a small staff of direct legal service providers working to meet ever-increasing demands without the help of administrative support. Join the fight against anti-immigrant censorship and austerity and donate to VAAP today. Donate to VAAP Besides donating, learn about VAAP's online resources and events so you can help others to help themselves. Check your sources before sharing information, and say no to doom-scrolling. Trust us to share reliable information as it becomes available. Volunteer with patience for slow response times and openness to new technology and workflows. Report an ICE Arrest Finally, help VAAP fight the harmful effects of misinformation. Yes, ICE activities are up in VT, but let's be clear about what they are so people aren't excessively discouraged from taking their kids to school, accessing healthcare, and generally participating in public life. We work to verify reported events before disclosing them on our website and with the media. Report what you see here and review our data analysis here.  FROM OUR WEBSITE Absent a state-based Office of New Americans equivalent to serve as Vermont's legal information clearinghouse, VAAP is growing the scope, content, and accessibility of our educational website, available in English, Spanish, French, Pashto, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese. Please join us in encouraging folks to visit our website as a first step for the best available immigration legal information at any given time: www.vaapvt.org. Get oriented This month, VAAP partnered with Community Asylum Seekers Project to present Know Your Rights to 150+ in Brattleboro. VAAP joined Congressperson Balint, Vermont Afghan Alliance, the Vermont State Refugee Office, and the Vermont Attorney General's Office for a Know Your Immigration Rights press conference. VAAP also joined Treasurer Pieciak, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, and partners for an immigration rights and obligations webinar to a live audience of 1000 and an additional 800 YouTube viewers. VAAP delivered Continuing Legal Education (CLE) to 150+ at Vermont Bar Association's Mid-Winter Thaw Conference in Montreal. VAAP a launched service learning Working With Refugees course with 28 Bachelor of Social Work students at the UVM College of Education and Social Sciences. Read our blog In the State House, VAAP joined Vermont Judiciary Access to Justice Coalition colleagues in testifying before Senate Judiciary on the unmet civil legal assistance needs of low-income Vermonters. VAAP also joined partners in supporting a draft Senate Bill (long form forthcoming) to study the need for and create an Office of New Americans equivalent for Vermont. VAAP also signed on to Migrant Justice's draft House Bill (long form forthcoming) to expand fair housing protections for Vermont immigrants. VAAP also joined Vermont Queer Legal Professionals in presenting immigration legal orientation to Burlington's Worth Fighting For community organizers.  VAAP also joined Association of Africans Living in VT at Vermont Afghan Alliance to present Know Your Immigration Rights to VAA's client community. Follow VT bills VAAP continued collating local reporting on immigration issues from January and February. VAAP's work was featured in several local stories: Northeast Public Radio featured VAAP's remarks during Balint's immigration press conference. So did Burlington Free Press. Vermont Public featured VAAP on Vermont's safe schools movement. New England Public Media, VT Digger, and WCAX all featured VAAP's ICE Tracker. NBC5 covered Winooski's leadership in sanctuary school policymaking with support from Education Justice Coalition of Vermont partners including VAAP NBC5 also interviewed VAAP to clarify immigrant tenants' Fourth Amendment rights with ICE in and around their rental homes. VAAP also continued collate immigration law and policy updates and share analysis on key developments, including:  Local advocacy opportunities State advocacy opportunities Federal advocacy opportunities Family emergency planning Protecting immigrant youth Sanctuary schools Immigration and Work Temporary status What happens after applying for asylum Know Your Responsibilities in VT Expanded educational programming for lawyers and service providers Ethics and nonprofit compliance in uncertain times Myth-busting misinformation and disinformation STATE HOUSE 2025 Last week, VAAP had the pleasure of sharing subject matter expertise with lawmakers alongside Vermont Human Rights Commission executive director Big Hartmann. Vermont is fortunate to be represented by leaders who are open to exploring creative local solutions to intractable federal problems. VAAP is following the progress of several initiatives this legislative session: Senate Judiciary Committee's access to justice working group Draft Office of New Americans (ONA) equivalent study bill Draft fair housing for immigrants bill Draft State Grant Reform bill H.34 expanding state workforce development H.38 increasing Vermont Human Rights Commission staffing H.53 mandating inclusive schools policies S.44 and H.81 creating legislative oversight of Vermont agreements with immigration agencies S.1 expanding Medicaid to all residents S.2 establishing a Vermont Office of Health Equity S.8 expanding Dr. Dynasaur Medicaid for pregnant people up to 26 Anyone can contact your representatives to express support for these initiatives or offer testimony. Even a one sentence email does the trick! Contact your rep REQUEST OUR HELP We are now offering attorney-for-a-day legal help clinics in your communities statewide. To make these clinics successful, we kindly ask partners with preexisting relationships with potential clients to share the clinic workload. We hope partners will coordinate client attendance and meeting space, while VAAP handles legal and language access volunteers and supervision. Learn more. We are introducing a fee-for-service limitation around our community education work. VAAP Know Your Rights (KYR) now costs a $500 flat fee. This way, we can continue meeting VT's growing legal information needs, especially rurally, while balancing the ethical and fiscal demands responsibilities of delivering nonprofit legal services. Learn more. Get in touch ACCESS MENTORSHIP Fellow service providers: please hold your questions and join VAAP and a community of practitioners at our recurring virtual meetings for legal advocates and lay service providers. This month's legal case rounds are on 2/20 at noon and 2/25 at 9am. This month's community Q&A discussions are on 2/18 at 9am and 2/27 at noon. The National Immigration Project cites engagement with communities of practice as the number one way we can best support our clients and each other in the uncertainty ahead! Events calendar Community partners interested in mobilizing Rapid Response teams: The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) have launched a seven-part webinar training series on workplace raids resistance and response. Trainings are covering all facets of raids response from a power-building perspective and will be led by speakers with on-the-ground experience responding to workplace raids, including our experience responding to the 2018 raid at TN's Southeastern Provision meatpacking plant. FROM OUR TEAM Despite the unprecedented times we find ourselves working in, the VAAP staff and board have many milestones to celebrate this month: Staff secured initial employment authorization documents (EADs) or "work permit" cards to several VAAP clients. Staff also secured two clients with VAAP's first "green cards" or lawful permanent residence (LPR) documents! Staff also helped several youth in removal proceedings to get their next immigration hearings vacated pending resolution of their Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions in Vermont courts. Staff welcomed spring intern Eliza Gebb UVM '25 and spring volunteers Maggie Otto UVM '25 and Jacob Griffin UVM '25 to our team.  Staff also welcomed 14 history students and 28 social work students from UVM's spring service learning courses to help us expand our website and prepare country conditions evidence packets for VAAP asylum seekers. Staff also congratulated summer intern Phebe Lowry UVM '27 who was accepted into the VT Folklife Center's Community Fellows Program 2025, where she will be trained to conduct ethnographic research with VAAP's client communities in service of VAAP's public education and resource generation work.  The Board also interviewed five incredible candidates for our current vacancies.  We also continued to deepen our partnership with the Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC). IJC awarded VAAP its first ever Katzman Fellow in Catalino Londono VLGS '25 who joins the VAAP team for two years this fall. IJC is also featuring VAAP director Jill Martin Diaz as a panelist for its inaugural National Alumni Convening to which a national network of eleven classes of fellows are invited "to reconnect and feel the power of our community in defending immigrants." Remember: we've been here before and we know how to fight, and we'll get through this. Sending so much care and gratitude to all our client communities, partners, and allies.  Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

January 2025

How we're working and how you can help

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER January 2025 CONTINUED OOPS! FORGOT A FEW THINGS TOMORROW! Join Migrant Justice/Justicia Migrante this Saturday for a Spanish-language Know Your Rights and base-building event at 60 Lake Street in Burlington from 6:30pm to 9pm. All are welcome for this Spanish-language gathering focused on how immigrant communities can defend and expand their rights in Vermont. Delicious food and childcare available! ALSO, they are accepting calls for immigration support on their teleayuda/helpline at 802-881-7229. Spread the word! ALSO! Winooski Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria and groups like the Education Justice Coalition, Migrant Justice, and VAAP are preparing for promised anti-immigrant policies under the new federal administration, including the promise to revoke policies that make schools “sensitive zones” safe from ICE raids. Learn more about how to support Winooski's efforts and how to bring the model safe schools policy to your community! And while we're here: reminder to view Vermont Language Justice Project's recordings of two Know Your Rights sessions VAAP co-delivered with Association of Africans Living in VT attorney Nathan Virag. We delivered the sessions in Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, and English last month and are gathering resources to deliver future presentations in other languages and in other parts of the state. Meanwhile, please help us share these videos widely! And stay tuned for an upcoming limited-scope legal assistance clinic VAAP is planning to deliver in partnership with AALV.  Thanks for reading and for all you do! VAAP NEWSLETTER January 2025 (circulated earlier) Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) is a legal services and technical assistance organization that exists to mentor no-cost and low-cost immigration lawyers and legal workers; educate and serve VT immigrants and community members; coordinate maximal impact across sectors and governments; and advocate to protect immigrants’ rights. FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR To our subscribers and partners: thank you. Our few-but-fierce VAAP team was blown away by your outpouring of collaboration and care these last weeks. We are so fortunate to be in community with such incredible clients, partners, and leaders as we share in the work of mitigating harm into 2025. This week VAAP completed Continuing Legal Education on minding ethical practice in times of great uncertainty. National Immigration Project director and instructor Vickie Nielson (who offered me my first law job back in 2015!) called on us to not back down from the highly complex and admittedly risky legal work ahead. She reminded participants how strong we are to be staring down this defining civil rights issue of our time. We left the training feeling confident that, with your continued support and partnership, VAAP is prepared to meet this moment and more. Below, you'll learn we're working with regional and national communities of practice to ensure Vermont's seamless access to vetted self-help resources and subject matter expertise. We're expanding the format and scope of educational materials on our growing multilingual website, and sharing technical assistance with clients, volunteers, leaders, and beyond. Our flexibility is keeping us responsive to emerging community needs, and our focus on accountability will help us foster equitable access to quality services and information. But we need your help! We need allies to familiarize yourselves with VAAP's self-help resources and programming and help us spread the word, so impacted community members can do the same. We need legal and language access volunteers to stay patient with our start-up learning curve and stay open to emerging technology, so we can continue mobilizing legal resources when and where they are needed most. Speaking of resources, we need partners who can contribute financially to help us replace the tenuous federal funding on which our program currently relies. Remember: we have been here before and we know how to fight, and we'll get through this. Read on for practice updates, advisories and opinions, answers to frequently asked questions, save the dates, and more.   Thanks for all you do! Jill Martin Diaz, Esq.  SUPPORT OUR WORK Every contribution, of any amount, keeps us focused on immigration lawyering at this pivotal moment in Vermont's immigration history. We're a small advocacy staff working to meet ever-increasing demands without the help of support staff. Join the fight against anti-immigrant censorship and austerity and donate to VAAP today. Donate to VAAP WEBSITE UPDATES Absent a state-based Office of New Americans equivalent to serve as Vermont's legal information clearinghouse, VAAP is growing the scope and content of our multilingual educational website for easier reference by immigrant communities, service providers, and legal advocates alike. Visit our website at www.vaapvt.org. So far, we've bolstered our community- and attorney-facing virtual libraries and launched click-through references to the different legal and social sectors supporting VT's immigrant communities. We will continue to grow and reorganize both resources in the time to come. Any omissions or errors were made in good faith, and we always welcome corrections or opt-outs from anyone at anytime. Our request is that you please join us in encouraging folks to visit our website as a first step for the best available information at any given time, to reduce VAAP's large call/email volume and to minimize the risk of exacerbating misinformation by circulating handouts that will quickly become stale. Our website content is available in English, Spanish, French, Dari, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese. Site visitors can adjust the language of any page using the translator widget at the top right corner. We recommend new visitors review the brief English-language video tour of the website on our landing page. Access the library Between monthly newsletters, don't forget to visit our blog for the latest law, policy, and practice updates from VAAP. This month's posts included December and January roundup of local immigration news and an invitation to VAAP's and AALV's Know Your Rights presentations on 12/4 in English, Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole, which Vermont Language Justice Project recorded and published here.  This month's celebrations and publications included: VAAP featured in Seven Days and published in Seven Days and VT Digger IJC awards VAAP our third IJC Fellow VAAP to teach service learning to 30 at the UVM Department of Social Work VAAP partners with UVM's History Department to prepare country conditions evidence for Vermont's most common asylum seeker fact patterns VAAP's virtual clinics serve over 35 asylum seekers in December VAAP appointed to VT Treasurer Mike Pieciak's Federal Transition Task Force VAAP and CASP present to 150+ at Brattleboro community forum Practice alerts and evolving answers to frequently asked questions included: January 20th Prep Practice Alert  December talking points on 2025 prep State-based interventions VT can consider Know Your Responsibilities in VT Family planning Protecting immigrant youth Sanctuary schools Temporary status What happens after applying for asylum Expanded educational programming for lawyers and service providers Immigration and Work Ethics and nonprofit compliance in uncertain times Myth-busting misinformation and disinformation This was in addition to the numerous multimedia and multilingual resources we curated on our community- and attorney-facing resource libraries.  Read the blog REQUESTING LEGAL HELP VAAP is facing a surge in urgent cases; difficulty balancing intake communications with existing attorney-client duties; and unexpectedly time-intensive post-clinic legal work. To address these challenges, we’ve paused new intakes to catch up on existing professional duties EXCEPT for Unaccompanied Children in removal proceedings and Afghan nationals, for whom we have restricted funding to serve. Unfortunately, this means we are no longer maintaining a general intake waitlist or responding directly to new requests for legal help. If folks call or email us to request help this month, we are unlikely to be able to respond. If you submitted an intake request in 2024, we are working to contact you as resources allow, but we cannot guarantee a response or assistance due to the high volume of cases. We publish our referral list of trusted no-cost and free-for-service immigration providers on our website (scroll down for referrals).  That said, we remain committed to serving new immigrant clients this winter and spring. For potential clients seeking new humanitarian immigration legal help from VAAP, we request that you let your social service providers know (or that you get in touch with them for the first time) so they can connect you with upcoming VAAP services.  In turn, social service providers can can request a virtual or onsite legal help clinic from VAAP by emailing info@vaapvt.org. Social service providers can also contact us to get added to our click-through referral page! Clinics are designed to provide limited-scope, harm-reducing immigration legal assistance to noncitizen Vermonters at risk of removal. We are working hard to increase our capacity and share your frustration with the growing access-to-justice gap facing low-income Vermonters! Make your unmet immigration legal needs known to Vermont: report unmet needs to the State Refugee Office at Tracy.Dolan@vermont.gov and the Office of Racial Equity at AOA.ORE@vermont.gov, who report to the Governor; as well as to Legal Services Vermont's partner referral portal, who reports intake requests and responses to the Vermont Judiciary. Report an ICE Arrest We're already seeing an uptick in ICE enforcement in VT this week. If you witness ICE or CBP arrest activity in Vermont, please complete this form so VAAP can track practices and incorporate patterns into our education and advocacy work. Note reporting enforcement activity using this form is NOT a request for legal help but will help us gather data to support our resource generation! LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES TODAY! Join VAAP staff at the Vermont Bar Association Mid-Winter Thaw Conference for a 90-minute 1.5MCLE-DEI session exploring actionable strategies for creating legal work environments that honor and uplift individuals of all races, ethnicities, religions, national origins, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. Participants will learn from VAAP’s approach to integrating and supporting diverse team members to navigate bringing their whole selves to representing diverse clients, while addressing the unique challenges of immigration lawyering in 2025. Together, we’ll discuss practical steps to eliminate bias, expand accessibility, and build legal workplaces where everyone—not just clients but colleagues, too—can thrive. See you there! Unless it's not your vibe! VT providers of legal and social services: please hold your questions and join VAAP and a community of practitioners at our recurring rounds meetings! Open to all VT legal and lay providers from the public, private, or volunteer sectors. Upcoming legal meetings are January 23 & 28 and February 20 & 12. Upcoming lay meetings are January 21 & 30 and February 18 & 27. The National Immigration Project cites engagement with communities of practice as the number one way we can best support our clients and each other in the uncertainty ahead! Starting in January 2025, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) will be launching a seven-part webinar training series on workplace raids resistance and response.  The trainings will cover all facets of raids response from a power-building perspective and will be led by speakers with on-the-ground experience responding to workplace raids, including our experience responding to the 2018 raid at TN's Southeastern Provision meatpacking plant. Events calendar VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES Huge THANKS to VAAP Language Access Volunteer Sara Stowell of Proctorsville for joining executive director Jill Martin Diaz and legal fellow Emma Matters-Wood in co-publishing VT Digger commentary calling for more responsible reporting on immigrant workforce and housing issues! Read the full piece here and accompanying Seven Days Letter to the Editor here. We're getting great engagement from the publishers themselves and connecting Princeton University's Eviction Lab with VT housing advocates to mount a systematic response for what we expect will be a growing eviction pattern as ICE worksite raids leave families behind without income.   "If Vermont is to address its economic challenges, it must first tackle the systemic barriers that hinder workers’ ability to live here and thrive. This includes ensuring access to affordable housing, fair wages and pathways to regularized work authorization and immigration status. Additionally, robust protections for all workers, regardless of status or manner of arrival, are essential to creating a just and sustainable workforce." As you can see, donating money is not the only way to support VAAP's mission; the success of our legal work also relies on people generously donating their time! In particular, we seek lawyers and legal workers interested in helping an asylum seeker to file their initial application, or fielding questions at a local Know Your Rights forum. We also seek fluent multilingual language access volunteers interested in interpreting between lawyers and clients during their case meetings (Spanish is in highest demand followed by French). No experience necessary! Whatever your background, we'll provide you with resources to guide your work. Stay tuned for volunteer sign up forms on this page of our website which should facilitate our ability to respond to offers and inquires more timely! In the kind words of returning VAAP volunteer attorney, Don Woodworth, of Central Vermont:    "In a nutshell, I wish to share my privilege - privilege that has allowed me to study and work to become an attorney who speaks fluent Spanish, to assist people to avoid a sealed fate in their own countries by gaining asylum to live here, contributing to Vermont culturally and, lest we forget, economically. I think that most residents in the United States are here by virtue of immigration, perhaps motivated by some of the same reasons that drives people to seek asylum here today (albeit perhaps under a very different context)."   Volunteer FAQs CONNECTING CULTURES' CORNER We are excited to continue sharing VAAP newsletter and blog space with our multidisciplinary partners at Connecting Cultures, with whom VAAP collaborates closely to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed welcoming and resettlement services. This round of Connecting Cultures' Corner, we feature a country profile on Somalia; a clinician spotlight; upcoming events from partner organizations; and more. We thank Connecting Cultures (formally known as New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma or NESTT) for paving the way for VAAP to exist and supporting us with funding to deliver legal services and community education. Check out our blog to learn more! Connecting Cultures THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM Please join us in extending a warm welcome to our newest board member and incoming Treasurer Juan Mejias! Juan works as Mascoma Bank's Community Relationship Banker and previously managed the M&T South Burlington Branch. Juan is no stranger to the experience of accessing humanitarian immigration pathways and building a new life and enterprise in Vermont. In Juan's words, after thoroughly reviewing VAAP's website, newsletters, and social media, he described feeling called to our mission given his own recent immigration experience. He says he’s eager to pay forward the resettlement supports he received along the immigration journey that brought him to New England and, ultimately, to Vermont. He expresses feeling eager to inspire other newly arrived, English learning immigrants to dream big for their futures, given all that he has achieved in VT in few short three years. Thank you for joining us, Juan!  Endless thanks to our outgoing Treasurer Caitlin Jenness who was absolutely instrumental to VAAP's survival and success during our first year of incorporation. Caitlin works as the Director of Finance at Evernorth and previously worked as C.F.O. for several prominent mission-driven local businesses. During her tenure as VAAP Treasurer, Caitlin went above and beyond to help ensure the smooth and sustainable development of VAAP operations and fiscal management. Thanks to Caitlin's dedication to VAAP, we are entering our second year a bigger, stronger, and more sustainable organization. We wish you well, Caitlin, and we are eternally grateful for all your contributions!    Interested in joining our incredible board? See our vacancies on Common Good VT and apply now!  Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

December 2024

Help us share good info and sustain our work by donating!

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER December 2024 Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) is a legal services organization that exists to provide VT immigrants and community members with access to legal knowledge and direct services; coordinate between VT service sectors, policymakers, status-seekers, and legal workers to maximize service impact; advocate for VT policies that protect immigrants’ rights at local levels; and educate and share technical assistance with VT practitioners informed by national best practices. FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR This month, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) joins our partners in grieving the harms of the election cycle but also in mobilizing to mitigate promised future harms as much as possible. As you'll learn below, we're curating nationally vetted resources, coordinating volunteers to meet immigrant community needs, and advocating with leaders and lawmakers for local protections. We're also educating the public to combat the spread of dangerous misinformation, and providing direct services and technical assistance to as many Vermont noncitizens as possible. Our goal is to help make sure every Vermont immigrant in need, regardless of status or manner of entry, is aware of and has equitable access to their legal rights. Please help us make this goal a reality by donating whatever money you can to our first-ever annual appeal. Every contribution, no matter the amount, alleviates our fundraising burden and keeps us focused on immigration lawyering at this pivotal moment in Vermont's immigration history. We're a small staff of four lawyers working to meet an ever-increasing demand for our immigration legal expertise, and we're doing so with no administrative, media, IT, or fundraising support. Join the fight against anti-immigrant censorship and austerity and donate to VAAP today. Remember: we have been here before and we know how to fight. Read on to learn about our expanded website, upcoming education and legal service events, and more.  Thanks for all you do, Jill Martin Diaz Donate to VAAP REQUEST LEGAL HELP In addition to our education, advocacy, and technical assistance work, VAAP offers no-cost direct legal help to Vermont immigrants who cannot afford an attorney and who are either: (1) unaccompanied children in removal proceedings; or (2) asylum seekers and others filing their initial applications for humanitarian protection; or (3) self-represented immigration applicants seeking brief advice; or (4) Afghan nationals securing or preserving immigration status. Click here to learn more and request help.    Request help WEBSITE EXPANSIONS! Absent a state-based Office of New Americans equivalent to serve as Vermont's legal information clearinghouse, VAAP is growing the scope and content of our educational website for easier reference by immigrant communities, service providers, and legal advocates alike. Visit our website at www.vaapvt.org. So far, we've bolstered our community- and attorney-facing virtual libraries and launched click-through references to the different legal and social sectors supporting VT's immigrant communities. We will continue to grow and, if needed, reorganize both resources in the time to come. Any omissions or errors were made in good faith, and we always welcome corrections or opt-outs from anyone at anytime. Our request is that you please join us in encouraging folks to visit our website as a first step for the best available information at any given time, to reduce VAAP's large call/email volume and to minimize the risk of exacerbating misinformation by circulating handouts that will quickly become stale. Our website content is available in English, Spanish, French, and Dari. Site visitors can adjust the language of any page using the translator widget at the top right corner. We aim to post a brief video tour of the website on our social media soon. Stay tuned! Access the library Between monthly newsletters, don't forget to visit our blog for the latest law, policy, and practice updates from VAAP. This month's posts included: November local immigration news roundup.  Our VT Digger commentary and our conversation with Vermont Public. November 2024 frequently asked questions (FAQs) about: temporary immigration status. immigration status and work. November 2024 talking points regarding: myth-busting misinformation and disinformation. what we know about the state of immigration today. Celebrating our November 20th virtual clinic which served 33 asylum seekers.  Our initial feedback to lawmakers regarding a proposed Office of New Americans equivalent for Vermont.  Read the blog LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES DECEMBER 2ND (TONIGHT!): Join the National Immigration Project for FREE community defender training in English and Spanish via Zoom. They'll cover what to expect from the Trump administration; knowing your rights with law enforcement including ICE; and tips for preparing your families and communities in case of arrest. Register here.  DECEMBER 14TH: Encourage noncitizen Vermonters to visit the O.N.E. Community Center for FREE legal education co-presented with the Association of Africans Living in VT and the State Refugee Office. We'll present in Spanish at 10am, and in French & Creole at 1pm. Vermont Language Justice Project will record. More in-person and virtual events in other languages coming soon. Join us!   DECEMBER 17TH: Join VAAP for judgement-free group learning in this month's rendition of our recurring Partner Q&A series. VT service providers can drop-in with general immigration-related questions for general discussion (no client-specific data, please). A great place to bring your burning questions. See you there! DECEMBER 31ST: Lawyers and legal workers representing Vermont noncitizens in immigration matters are similarly welcome to join VAAP for more judgement-free group learning at this month's Case Rounds. This is a great place to bring anonymized versions of your burning questions and build community with other advocates. Welcome! Events calendar VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES Donating money is not the only way to support VAAP's mission; the success of our legal work also relies on people generously donating their time! In particular, we seek lawyers and legal workers interested in helping an asylum seeker to file their initial application, or fielding questions at a local Know Your Rights forum. We also seek multilingual language access volunteers interested in interpreting between lawyers and clients during their case meetings. No experience necessary! Whatever your background, we'll provide you with resources to guide your work. Join our no-obligation shortlist today to keep track of upcoming volunteer opportunities and needs. In the kind words of VAAP volunteer attorney, Glennis Gold, pictured below:    "I recently retired and can’t think of a better way to use my skills and experience as an attorney than by volunteering with the intelligent, organized and energetic staff at VAAP, assisting immigrants gain legal status in the US. I heartily recommend working under the auspices of VAAP as a pro bono attorney."                              Volunteer FAQs CONNECTING CULTURES' CORNER We are excited to continue sharing VAAP newsletter and blog space with our multidisciplinary partners at Connecting Cultures, with whom VAAP collaborates closely to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed welcoming and resettlement services. This round of Connecting Cultures' Corner, we feature a country profile on Somalia; a clinician spotlight; upcoming events from partner organizations; and more. We thank Connecting Cultures (formally known as New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma or NESTT) for paving the way for VAAP to exist and supporting us with funding to deliver legal services and community education. Check out our blog to learn more! THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM         Board member Gertrude "Trudy" Namubiru welcomed us to share this 2022 photo of her and executive director Jill Martin Diaz, her attorney at the time, moments after Trudy  won her asylum case. In Trudy's words, "With the help of law student clinicians at Vermont Law and Graduate School, the Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network, and the community, my case was approved by a Boston Immigration Court Judge in 2022 amidst so many challenges. I love Vermont and to me, this is a home away from home." Now well on her way to permanent status, Trudy is celebrating this holiday season by reuniting with family in a third country for the first time since 2018. The impact of immigration legal interventions cannot be overstated. Thank you for making VAAP's mission a reality. Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

October/November 2024

We need your help filing asylum cases and raising funds to sustain our work!

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER October 2024 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR "We've been here before. We know how to fight. I love you." Erin Jacobsen, my longtime collaborator and fellow dirty immigration lawyer, always knows just what to say. Not me. I spent yesterday swinging between being totally lost for words and finding words in such excess that I had to place them elsewhere. Rereading Erin's text kept me vertical as VAAP confronted the three explicitly anti-immigrant federal branches that would begin governing our work in January. Lola Rodriguez as Valeria Vargas, casually foreshadowing the rest of my life in Atresmedia's Veneno. The day brought a messy mix of solving problems and processing grief. It started with ugly-crying my way through a yoga class's "corpse pose" remembering the late, great Robert Ostermeyer's advice that the only "client" I would ever really have is the system. I called a team meeting so VAAP staff could discuss how best to show kindness to each other this week and help each other, let alone our clients, distinguish legal from felt emergency. I joined our bimonthly virtual asylum clinic to orient superstar volunteer attorneys Glennis Gold and Judith Massis-Sanchez, and volunteer interpreter Maja Klosterman, to their assigned case for the day. Afterward, I found myself rage-quitting a committee position mid-meeting with a flourish that still makes me cringe.  Elvira Minguez's advice as Professor Blanca Villanueva lives in my mind rent free. I wondered what I could write in this newsletter to sound Brave™ and marveled at the timely leadership being exercised by incredible partners, many of whose messages, resources, and action opportunities I collate below. Then I remembered Veneno's Professor Blanca Villanueva counseling a fictionalized Valeria Vegas, iconic transfemme writer, on where to even begin.    Period. Of course. We start at the beginning, all over again, and take things one step at a time. Read on for this month's roundup of resources, volunteer needs, and opportunities to support VAAP's work—including by donating, so our tiny team can relax about fundraising and focus on lawyering!  We've been here before and we know how to fight. I love you.  -Jill Donate to VAAP FROM OUR PARTNERS From Tracy Dolan, Vermont State Refugee Office: "This is the time to listen to one another and support one another, even through the stress and the very real pressures of limited housing, high costs and changing political climates. Like we often do when we are at our best, we need to show up for one another and have patience with each other, especially now when people may be feeling uncertain about what the future holds....Words matter, and that goes for positive words too. So please take the time to make someone feel welcome and supported this week in any small way that you can...While there will be time to pull up our sleeves and figure out how we can best respond to any upcoming changes in the coming months, there is also time right now to listen to and validate people’s fears and concerns as we continue to help refugees, asylum seekers or other immigrants from all walks of life navigate the process of building their homes in Vermont." The SRO's next statewide Refugee and Immigrant Service Providers Network (RISPNET) meeting is Thursday November 21 and you can email Allison.Perline@Vermont.gov to RSVP.  From Karen Fondacaro, Connecting Cultures: "This is a time when it is especially important to reach out to one another for support. Please remember that you are not alone; feel free to contact me, your supervisor, or others on our team if you need someone to talk to. Taking care of yourself is crucial right now, so please make self-care a priority and take extra time if you need it. Our clients have consistently shown great strength and resilience, and we can draw inspiration from them. Let’s support each other with resilience and hope as best as we can." Connecting Cultures circulated this resource to staff which I found helpful, so I hope you do, too.                                                                             From Jenn McIntyre, Canada-US Border Rights Clinic: "To our American colleagues—we are with you as you absorb and mourn this moment. And we will be with you tomorrow, whatever happens. In solidarity." The Clinic has generously offered to deliver a workshop to VAAP, so stay tuned for details. From Yael Schacher, Refugees International: "Please join us for a webinar on the implications of U.S. election on migration policy in the Americas on November 14 at noon ET. Details and registration are here. The webinar will be in English with Spanish and Kreyol translation." See you there, or stay tuned for VAAP's report out.  From the National Lawyers Guild National Immigration Project (circulated last week): "We know these are especially challenging times. With the election just days away, we are doing our best to prepare and ensure that our community is supported -- not only its work, but in its spirit and morale as well. We hope you'll consider joining us for our post-election member debrief on Friday, November 22nd, where we'll hold an informal conversation to debrief, reflect, and strategize about the path forward." See you there, or stay tuned for VAAP's report out.                  GET LEGAL HELP Click here to request VAAP services & learn who else can help.  LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES For everyone Bookmark and share VAAP's growing library of resources. Learn about VAAP's community based organization partners. Read our answers to evolving Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by volunteers and communities. Click here to earn about the legal help we offer and how to request it. Monitor our calendar for programming announcements, including those highlighted below. For providers and volunteers On Tuesday, November 19, join VAAP for our next monthly virtual service providers' Q&A with supervising attorney, Jill Martin Diaz. All service providers seeking general information about the immigration legal system and how it interacts with your clients’ access to benefits and services are welcome to participate. We will facilitate this series “clinic style,” meaning we will focus our time on fostering supportive, confidential, judgement-free, reflective, and ultimately action-oriented discussion. No RSVP necessary, come when you can, and no need to stay for the whole meeting. Just come prepared to introduce yourself as well as an anonymized version of your questions for engaging group discussion! Please note that VAAP is unable to provide any individualized legal advice nor accept requests for intake during these meetings. Access the meeting link here.    For lawyers and legal workers   On Monday, November 18th, join the American Immigration Lawyers Association New England Chapter for a lunchtime virtual panel featuring VAAP Executive Director Jill Martin Diaz reflecting on local lawmaking solutions to combat adversarial federal leadership. "The AILA New England Chapter draws on members from across the region. Each New England state is rich with their own history, has different populations, and each state has varying local immigration needs. While federal law will dictate and govern our immigration system, many states have embraced their immigration populations with laws easing access to driver’s license or expanding healthcare access. Please join colleagues from across New England in an open forum discussion on local immigration issues in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. We will discuss advocacy resources, pending bills, and dissect the current political climate post-election. Register here." On Tuesday, November 26, join VAAP for our next monthly virtual legal advocates' case rounds with supervising attorney, Jill Martin Diaz. All attorneys and accredited representatives interested or currently representing humanitarian immigration status seekers in VT are welcome to participate! We facilitate this series “clinic style,” meaning we focus our time on fostering supportive, confidential, judgement-free, reflective, and ultimately action-oriented discussion of whatever case/project questions participants bring to the group. No RSVP necessary, come when you can, and no need to stay for the whole meeting. Just come prepared to introduce yourself as well as an anonymized version of your case/project questions for engaging group discussion!. Access the meeting link here.  Save January 17th-18th for the Vermont Bar Association's Mid-Winter Thaw Conference at the Hotel Omni in Montreal, where VAAP staff will deliver a CLE focused on fostering workplace accessibility for a diversifying bar and in times of change. Register here.   We encourage you to check our calendar regularly for additional programming announcements VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES For multilingual speakers of Spanish and/or French   Language access is an essential element of our legal work and also a severely under-funded mandate. The prohibitive cost of legal interpretation and translation support is the single most limiting factor on our ability to provide services to everyone who needs it. For example, one I-589 asylum application filing clinic serving 10 primary applicants over 4-5 hours costs VAAP upwards of $4,000 in telephonic interpreter fees. VAAP's staff of four advocates lack access to any administrative or operations support and we are struggling to balance fundraising for language access with direct legal service delivery. If you have multilingual language skills and are willing to get trained to provide virtual interpreter services at one or more asylum legal help clinic, WE NEED YOU! Contact us today to express your no-obligation interest and learn more.  For lawyers and legal workers For legal advocates who are interested in volunteering, the need has never been more urgent! Following suit with national best practice, we will continue assisting clients to assert their asylum claims and pursue work authorization as much as is practicable before immigration law and policy begins to shift next year. We need attorney and paralegal volunteers to help with the expeditious preparation and filing of preliminary or "skeletal" asylum applications on USCIS Form I-589. Any legal professionals, not just lawyers, are welcome to assist. We will ask you to review and sign our mentorship and confidentiality agreements, complete about 1.5 hours of virtual training, and then sign up for at least one half-day application assistance clinic. These discreet virtual clinics are a great opportunity to learn or fine-tune asylum law and practice skills and to help us advance VAAP’s mission. We’ll coordinate all logistics and provide you with training, resources, interpreters, supervision, and practice insurance. No experience or multilingual language skills necessary - just a willingness to learn and meet potential clients where they are at! Contact us to express your no-obligation interest. Whether you're completing your first-year attorney mentorship licensing requirements, planning your retirement projects, interested in skilling up, or interested in giving back, VAAP is here for you! Speaking of which, VAAP extends a heartfelt congratulations to attorney Monica Allard of Downs Rachlin Martin for joining Vermont Business Magazine's Rising Star Class of 2024! VAAP was thrilled to help celebrate Monica's recognition for her tremendous work, not only with VAAP but also with Vermont Queer Legal Professionals, Pride Center VT, and beyond. Monica, thank you for supporting VAAP clients to seek asylum and for encouraging your colleagues to join in.                          "I volunteer with VAAP because, through their critical advocacy and direct services work, they are providing desperately needed legal access to members of our community during a time when their futures are more uncertain than ever. Through VAAP, a few hours of my day can change a neighbor's legal ability to live, work, access support, and connect with family. VAAP brings the necessary expertise and guidance to the table, but they can't do it alone. I encourage everyone to seize this opportunity to make a profound and immediate impact in our community."   FACT CHECK https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/state-local-initiatives/ona-state-network Why VAAP Supports a VT "Office of New Americans"      The Trump Administration promises immigration reform that could topple our service sector if we don't address existing problems now: 2025 will exacerbate our collective struggles to address the crises of Vermont’s immigrant populations' urgent unmet psychosocial, legal, health, and material needs. 2025 will also distract from our efforts to foster an accessible, equitable, inclusive environment where immigrant populations cannot only arrive but also THRIVE - a non-negotiable for Vermont's future economic and social viability. As a direct legal services provider working statewide on high stakes immigration matters, VAAP feels the impact of our state's impressive but uncoordinated model of community based service delivery and its lack of a centralized clearinghouse for information sharing, referral making, and issues resolution. We observe direct service providers like us scrambling to redress individual injustices using individual solutions, but also systemic injustices with individual solutions.  Potential immigration legal clients and their supporters are self-referring to every office all at once, triggering confusing and duplicative intake responses. Offices are cross-referring to one another, furthering duplicated intake. Despite the intake duplications, a person might make it through everyone's screening systems only to learn no organization has the resources or expertise to assist. Systemic lack of intake capacity is distracting from actual service provision. Lay advocates are filling in service gaps with good intentions but at the risk of harmful unauthorized or unsupervised practice of complex, high stakes law.        The good news is that over 20 states have already begun addressing these problems, and not just for the legal services sector, by creating a state-supported Office of New Americans (ONA) equivalent. It's like the State Refugee Office, but with the much broader mandate of championing the needs and rights of ALL immigrants in the state regardless of status or circumstances of arrival. As New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maine, and Washington have found, ONA equivalents eliminate duplicative intake systems across providers, reduce service gaps as organizations cross-refer, allow for more meaningful demographic data collection, and position service sectors to access outside resources more effectively. In sum, expanding state partners' internal coordination with each other, as well as their external collaboration with the national Office of New Americans State Network, allows robust community sectors like ours to better address the complex needs of its growing immigrant communities. This is why VAAP supports the establishment of an ONA equivalent for Vermont. This fall, we gathered with diverse community partners across disciplines and regions to explore opportunities to collaborate on establishing an ONA equivalent for Vermont. You can review a history of those gatherings here. As VAAP has learned over the course of these gatherings, the mandate of an ONA equivalent can include charging a cabinet-level director with ensuring government accountability for the rights and obligations owed to immigrant populations. It can include empowering the director to help communities solve systemic injustices with systemic solutions. It can include improved service coordination, equitable grantmaking, or improved demographic study. It can position states to more easily access available resources to address intersecting public policy issues like disaster preparedness and workforce development.                        Focusing on the legal services sector that VAAP champions, coordinated intake would conserve attorney resources so we can do what we do best: assist noncitizens to invoke immigration legal claims and defenses that enable their full and safe participation in the regulated economy; protect noncitizens from harmful and wasteful enforcement and removal proceedings; and ensures an inclusive and prosperous future Vermont for all not withstanding Vermont's critical workforce and working age taxpayer shortages. Recall that a work authorized social security number is the necessary precursor to proving your identity with public institutions, working, opening a bank account, obtaining a REAL ID needed to travel safely between states, securing financing to own a home, run a business, or access public financial aid, and more. Work authorization is not an independent immigration benefit one can apply for and is only available incident to some other claim or defense you have filed, normally with the assistance of an attorney. An ONA equivalent for Vermont would not be a panacea, but at least a means for evidence-based progress toward more coordinated, equitable, and impactful service delivery. Feeling impassioned? Get in touch to join our growing coalition. We are stronger together! SAVE THESE DATES Thursday, November 14: Refugee International hosts a U.S. election debrief webinar.  Monday, November 18: VAAP presents on AILA New England virtual panel.  Tuesday, November 19: VAAP hosts virtual immigration Q&A for VT immigrant non-legal service providers.  Thursday, November 21: State Refugee Office hosts next Refugee and Immigrant Service Providers Network (RISPNET) meeting. Friday, November 22: NLG NIP hosts a U.S. election debrief webinar.  Tuesday, November 26: VAAP hosts virtual immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Tuesday, December 17: VAAP hosts virtual immigration Q&A for VT immigrant non-legal service providers.  Tuesday, December 31: VAAP hosts virtual immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Friday, January 17: VAAP presents at the VBA Mid-Winter Thaw Conference in Montreal. We'll share rolling updates through our blog, calendar, newsletters, and social media. Please contact VAAP to  have your events, programming, and resources reflected here, too! CONNECTING CULTURES' CORNER Updates from our partners at Connecting Cultures   As we announced this fall, we’re excited to begin sharing VAAP newsletter and blog space with our multidisciplinary partners at Connecting Cultures, with whom VAAP collaborates closely to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed welcoming and resettlement services. This round of Connecting Cultures' Corner, we spotlight: A country profile on Bosnia-Herzegovina; A social work spotlight on Desirea Swick; Upcoming events; and more! We are grateful to Connecting Cultures (formally known as New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma or NESTT) for paving the way for VAAP to exist and supporting us with funding to deliver legal services and community education. Check out our blog to learn more! THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM   From our humble beginnings as a volunteer-led effort to today's staff of four, the VAAP staff and board extend our heartfelt thanks for making our mission a reality! Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

September 2024

New Virtual Waitlist; Volunteers Needed for USCIS Form i589 Help

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER September 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of VAAP! Now staffed by four paid advocates and supported by dozens of volunteers statewide, VAAP is off to the races this fall.  On the education front, we joined Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) to present Continuing Legal Education to an audience of about 20 at the Vermont Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting. We'll continue to host monthly virtual legal case rounds for immigration law practitioners and to deliver trainings on request. We are adding to our roster monthly virtual service providers' Q&A with supervising attorney, Jill Martin Diaz, for any service providers seeking general information about the immigration legal system and how it interacts with other service systems. See you there! On the staffing front, our first-for-Vermont partnership with Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) opened our intake of full-scope removal defense services for unaccompanied minors in VT. Since the migrant youth-focused 2022 VT Poverty Law Fellowship concluded this summer, VAAP is the state's only legal service provider working to ensure VT immigrant youth's universal access to counsel in removal proceedings.  On the advocacy front, a coalition is forming for the establishment of an "Office for New Americans" equivalent in Vermont for the purpose of centralizing, and thereby maximizing, legal and social service coordination. An initial meeting of about 35 Vermont service providers reached consensus that centralized coordination will safeguard scarce resources for actual  service delivery and subsequently make our services more equitably accessible to more people in need. Speaking of which... On the services front, even with our recent growth, the increasing demand for our services continues to exponentially outpace what we can responsibly supply. After delivering two "Walk-In Wednesday" intake pilot days, we are suspending the pilot for the rest of the year. Instead, we are moving to a web-based waitlist for callbacks which will be more sustainable for our resource-constrained team but hopefully still reasonably accessible to the communities we serve. We will be contacting our amazing volunteers who already signed up to help us on November and December "Walk-In Wednesdays" to offer alternatives.  Read on for details! Thank you for being part of our mission. As always, we’re here to collaborate, support, and advocate for Vermont’s immigrant communities. PARTNER SPOTLIGHT VAAP and CASP Staff Presenting Immigration Law Intersections at the VBA Midyear                                                                            On September 27th, VAAP joined the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) to present at the VBA's Midyear Meeting. CASP is one of a network of Vermont organizations coordinating shelter, food, and support services to area asylum seekers as they navigate the complex U.S. immigration system. CASP support services are vitally important for individuals at the beginning of their immigration journeys, who lack work authorization, photo identification, Social Security numbers, or any other documents necessary for self-sufficiency in society. In a 90-minute presentation, CASP Executive Director Liv Berelson and VAAP team members Marnie Avila Alvarez and Emma Matters-Wood addressed the intersections between immigration law and other Vermont laws and shared practice pointers for navigating ethical and resource limitations in legal practice across Vermont and New England. Our main goal was to equip attendees with the tools to confidently represent noncitizen clients in their respective areas of practice and encourage volunteering with VAAP. View our slide deck here!                                                 Immigrant Justice Corps Mandate Widens Our Legal Service Provision   With the arrival of Vermont's first Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) Fellows, Emma Matters-Wood and Cameron Briggs Ramos, VAAP is excited to expand its legal services offerings to include in-house, full-scope immigration representation. In particular, IJC Fellows' caseloads will focus on serving unaccompanied minors in removal proceedings. Unaccompanied minors face heightened barriers to accessing proceedings and asserting  claims and defenses. Like adults in removal proceedings, unaccompanied minors face lengthy and challenging legal battle but in their case without critical family or other age-appropriate supports. With Emma and Cameron’s arrival, we are better equipped to help these young individuals pursue legal pathways to safety and stability, offering them a fair chance at building a future in Vermont. We are applying to host additional IJC Fellows for the 2025-27 fellowship cycle and look forward to reporting back! FACT CHECK              As the unmet needs of Vermont’s immigrant populations continue to grow, the establishment of an Office of New Americans (ONA) equivalent is becoming increasingly urgent to ensure the responsible, sustainable, and cost effective delivery of services by government and nongovernment agencies. Centralized coordination to maximize service impacts is especially urgent as we confront a possible second Trump Administration. Accordingly, a coalition of stakeholders is forming to advocate for such an office to centralize coordination, maximize impacts of expert service delivery, and offer immigrants a clear point of contact for accessing services. As 20-or-so other jurisdictions have already found, including New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maine, and Washington, ONA equivalents eliminate duplicative intake systems across providers, reduce service gaps as organizations cross-refer, allow for more meaningful demographic data collection, and better position service sectors to access desperately-needed federal and private resources. In sum, expanding our state partners' internal coordination with each other, as well as our external collaboration with the national Office of New Americans State Network, would allow Vermont to better address the complex needs of its growing immigrant communities.              Focusing on the legal services sector that VAAP champions, coordinated intake would conserve attorney resources so we can do what we do best: assist noncitizens to invoke immigration legal claims and defenses that enable their full and safe participation in the regulated economy; protect noncitizens from harmful and wasteful enforcement and removal proceedings; and ensures an inclusive and prosperous future Vermont for all not withstanding Vermont's critical workforce and working age taxpayer shortages. Recall that a work authorized social security number is the necessary precursor to proving your identity with public institutions, working, opening a bank account, obtaining a REAL ID needed to travel safely between states, securing financing to own a home, run a business, or access public financial aid, and more. Work authorization is not an independent immigration benefit one can apply for and is only available incident to some other claim or defense you have filed, normally with the assistance of an attorney. Our client communities are navigating election-fueled anti-immigrant hate and fearmongering, and an associated explosion of immigration legal needs to unlock access to basic resources like food, shelter, and healthcare. We are struggling to educate the public on the full scope of these unmet needs, let alone to address them in culturally responsive, accessible, and meaningful ways. For these reasons, we also hope that an ONA equivalent will help us document a fuller and more accurate picture of unmet immigration service needs in Vermont, such as what's left out of the following Seven Days cartoon by Tim Newcomb (2024). The cartoon depicts two female-presenting immigrants wearing hijabs in "refugee" status, presumably Afghan women, celebrating their lived experience of more civil and political rights since coming to Vermont. It is unclear what, if any, role the subjects of this image played in its production.            VAAP constituents and staff with lived experience express feelings of disrespect, infantilization, and minimization upon seeing this image. Furthermore, from our perspective as legal service coordinators, what the cartoon leaves out is the often-fruitless trauma that most humanitarian status-seeking immigrants experience seeking counsel to assert viable immigration legal claims for status and associated work authorization, just to be able to access fundamental social and economic needs like food, housing, employment/income, and healthcare. Federal policy ensured that Afghan evacuees, in particular, had historically unmatched access to legal services and interim resettlement supports and, still, this population struggled to enjoy due process of immigration law and access basic needs. Indeed, the resettlement experience of the vast majority of Vermont's noncitizens, who come from dozens of countries worldwide, looks starkly different than what is summarily depicted here. An ONA equivalent for Vermont would not be a panacea, but at least a means for evidence-based progress toward more equitable and inclusive immigration services and public awareness for all. Feeling impassioned? Get in touch to join our growing coalition. We are stronger together! REQUESTING HELP We are once again adapting intake methods to respond to evolving needs!   In September and October, we piloted a "Walk-in Wednesdays" intake system wherein our growing volunteer base helped us to make intake more immediately accessible to the community. It’s been heartening to see more than 20 families and community members access legal advice by walking in or calling in during these no-appointment intake days. However, at October's clinic, we reached capacity with just one hour of opening our doors and phone lines. We subsequently disappointed many individuals who took time off of work to visit us later in the day seeking help. For the impact we had on clients and service providers alike, we apologize sincerely. Going forward, in an effort to manage intake in a way that more effectively balances clients' accessibility needs with our small team's resource limitations, we have suspended the pilot and reverted back to an improved internet-based intake system.  Effective immediately, please use the QR code linked above and/or this Request Immigration Legal Help Form to join our confidential callback waitlist. As detailed on our website, we will use the contact information provided in form responses to return calls for help in the order in which we receive them OR in order of apparent legal urgency, all pursuant to capacity limitations. Thanks for your patience as we learn by doing and help build sustainable immigration legal services for Vermont! VOLUNTEERING       We are once again pivoting volunteer models, too! THANK YOU to legal advocates who already volunteered for an upcoming "walk-in Wednesday" limited assistance clinic this fall. We will be reaching out to you shortly to propose a remote-based workflow for providing VAAP clients with asylum application assistance on your scheduled days.   For legal advocates who are interested in volunteering, the need has never been more urgent! Partners at Migrant Justice alone report over 30 asylum seeking members who will reach their one year filing deadline by January 2025, with dozens of other members hoping to file their claims before a potential Trump inauguration. Burlington's Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) and the Family Room report similarly pressing needs among their service populations. We need volunteers to help with the expeditious preparation and filing of preliminary or "skeletal" asylum applications on USCIS Form I-589. Any legal professionals, not just lawyers, are welcome to assist. We will ask you to review and sign our mentorship and confidentiality agreements, complete about 1.5 hours of virtual training, and then sign up for at least one 3-hour application assistance shift to be completed virtually or in person.    These discreet volunteer shifts are a great opportunity to learn or fine-tune asylum law and practice skills and to help us advance VAAP’s mission. We’ll coordinate all logistics and provide you with training, resources, interpreters, supervision, and practice insurance. No experience or multilingual language skills necessary - just a willingness to learn and meet potential clients where they are at! Contact us to express your no-obligation interest and learn more. Whether you're completing your first-year attorney mentorship licensing requirements, planning your retirement projects, interested in skilling up, or interested in giving back, VAAP is here for you! SAVE THESE DATES Tuesday, October 15: VAAP hosts inaugural virtual immigration Q&A for VT immigrant non-legal service providers.  Tuesday, October 29: VAAP hosts virtual immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Tuesday, November 19: VAAP hosts virtual immigration Q&A for VT immigrant non-legal service providers.  Tuesday, November 26: VAAP hosts immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Tuesday, December 17: VAAP hosts virtual immigration Q&A for VT immigrant non-legal service providers.  We'll share rolling updates through our blog, calendar, newsletters, and social media. Follow along and encourage potential clients and partners to do the same. You can also contact VAAP to express no-obligation interest in volunteering anytime. CONNECTING CULTURES' CORNER Updates from our partners at Connecting Cultures   As we announced last month, we’re excited to begin sharing VAAP newsletter and blog space with our multidisciplinary partners at Connecting Cultures, with whom VAAP collaborates closely to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed asylum seeker resettlement services. This round of Connecting Cultures' Corner, we spotlight: Addiction Policy Forum multilingual resources & Insight Collaborative's humanitarian wellness resources. A country profile on the Democratic Republic of Congo. A clinician profile of Rosalie Wright-Lapin. Upcoming events, and more! We are grateful to Connecting Cultures (formally known as New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma or NESTT) for paving the way for VAAP to exist and supporting us with funding to deliver legal services and community education. Check out our blog to learn more! THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM   From our humble beginnings as a volunteer-led effort to today's paid staff of four, the VAAP staff and VAAP board extend our heartfelt thanks for making our mission a reality! Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

July/August 2024

Seeking Volunteers and Welcoming Clients for Fall Intake and Legal Help Clinics

View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER JULY & AUGUST 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of Vermont Asylum Assistance Project! We have lots to celebrate from summer and as much to forecast for fall, and we owe it all to our amazing community partners. After an outrageously productive summer, we bid farewell to our incredible inaugural summer intern class. Julia, Phebe, Jake, Isaiah: THANK YOU for making all of this summer's services, outreach, and advocacy possible for Vermont's immigrant communities.  We also partnered with Downs Rachlin Martin to deliver our first firm-based asylum filing clinic. To the DRM attorneys, support staff, and summer associates who volunteered a summer Friday to serve 19 asylum seekers with VAAP's support: THANK YOU for making these asylum seekers 150% more likely to prevail in their claims with just one day of volunteer service. We also welcomed two fantastic new directors to our board, as well as Vermont's first ever Immigrant Justice Corps Fellows to our staff. Trudy, Aisa, Cam, Emma: THANK YOU for joining the VAAP team and for all you do to advance migrant justice! This fall, we are piloting "Walk-in Wednesdays" when we'll dedicate one Wednesday per month to receiving new intake requests by phone, email, social media, and in person. We will also dedicate one additional Wednesday per month to scheduling eligible asylum seekers for an appointment with a volunteer advocate to fill out an initial asylum application for filing. We'll continue to host monthly virtual case rounds for any and all interested immigration practitioners, and are available to deliver trainings and explore partnerships on request. Read on for more! Community Outreach   On July 13th, VAAP was fortunate to participate in the annual Migrant Justice Torneo de Fútbol, a vibrant community event that brings together migrant workers and their families for a day of soccer, solidarity, good food, and celebration. The event, held at Leddy Park, Burlington was not just about soccer—it was a chance to strengthen ties within the community, build new relationships, and reaffirm our commitment to standing with Vermont's migrant population. Our team had the opportunity to connect with attendees, share information about our services, and support the efforts of Migrant Justice in advocating for the rights of migrant workers. We set up a makeshift booth alongside Pinetree Legal Assistance's Farmworker Unit where we provided resources on asylum assistance, legal support, and community programs available to migrants in the state. A big shout out to Migrant Justice for organizing such an impactful event and look forward to continued collaboration in the future. Echoing thanks to Vermont Afghan Alliance for welcoming VAAP to its panel of legal rights educators at their highly successful inaugural know your rights training on July 12th. We invite all community partners to please keep VAAP in mind for future similar community outreach and education opportunities! Inaugural Firm-Based Clinic at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC   On July 26th, VAAP partnered with Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC to deliver our first firm-based attorney-for-a-day clinic to outrageous results. Thanks to intrepid DRM organizers, advocates, and volunteers, we were able to help nine families comprising 19 individuals to prepare and file their asylum applications in immigration court. VAAP provided training, case screening, file preparation, and logistics and supervision support on the day. The DRM team brought their professionalism and dedication, making sure each family got the support they needed to set their asylum claims up for success. We’re incredibly grateful for DRM's willingness to pilot a new service model with us, and look forward to future work with them and, hopefully, other local firms to deliver similarly impactful attorney-for-the-day events. NEW FACES             Emma and Cam are VT's First Immigrant Justice Corps Legal Fellows!   We’re thrilled to announce first-for-Vermont partnership with the nationally competitive Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC), and extend a heartfelt welcome to legal advocates Emma Matters-Wood and Cameron Briggs Ramos. Emma and Cam will focus on representing unaccompanied minors in removal proceedings, given the special barriers this population faces to asserting and prevailing in their legal claims. Their arrival marks a new chapter in VAAP's mission as we expand into full-scope immigration legal representation for the first time. We look forward to celebrating their impactful work with Vermont's youngest humanitarian status seekers. Welcome, Emma Matters-Wood and Cameron Briggs Ramos!       Trudy and Aisa Joined the VAAP Board!   We’re also thrilled to welcome Gertrude "Trudy" Namubiru and Aisatou "Aisa" Diallo to our board of directors. Gertrude is a mother who immigrated to the USA in 2018 and settled in Vermont. With the help of law student clinicians at Vermont Law and Graduate School, the Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network (CASAN), and the community, her case was approved by a Boston Immigration Court Judge in  2022 amidst  so many challenges. As a highly trained finance professional, she worked with the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) for several years before joining the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, called to both nonprofits' missions of helping improve the lives of local community members. Gertrude loves Vermont and to her, this is a home away from home. Aisa is a licensed attorney practicing in New York and Georgia. As a principal of Diallo Law, she actualizes her deep-seated passion for immigration law representing individuals held in detention facilities and those facing immigration detainers across the United States. Raised in The Bronx by Guinean parents, she witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by immigrant communities, which fueled her determination to make a difference in this field. Thank you, Trudy and Aisa, for bringing your passion and expertise to VAAP's leadership team! FACT CHECK Vermont Takes the Stage in National Border Discourse   Election season and "border brain" have put a media spotlight on immigration issues in Vermont. Like many of our partners, VAAP hopes to capitalize on this opportunity to build awareness of Vermont's longtime barriers to migrant justice and leverage awareness for systems change. For example, we recently sat down with NBC5 In Depth and Ali's Corner on Town Meeting TV to challenge the notion that immigration injustice is a new issue. On NBC5 In Depth, summer legal intern Isaiah Gonzales spoke passionately about the immense challenges individuals face while navigating the complex asylum process, including lengthy wait times, legal complexity, and language barriers. Together with executive director Jill Martin Diaz, he highlighted how increased investment in border militarization and enforcement distracts from the overwhelming, preexisting need for safer border processing and speedier adjudications. There are already 1.6 million asylum seekers living in limbo waiting for their opportunity to be heard. Rather than drawing increased investment in access to counsel and opportunities to be heard, "border brain" instead piles onto the backlog and exacerbates fear and danger in our immigrant communities. As a descendant of immigrants, Isaiah expressed how much it meant to him to provide culturally relevant, language accessible representation to VAAP's clients. He emphasized that our work aims to “ensure that those fleeing persecution have access to fair and timely legal processes, ultimately helping them find safety and build new lives in the United States.”   Despite the false dichotomy between the “right" pathways and the so-called "illegal" pathways to presence in the United States, VAAP stresses what Congress makes clear in INA § 208: there is no wrong way to seek asylum. VAAP is closely monitoring the Biden Administration's rapidly evolving changes to border processing and parole-in-place, and will be publishing analysis and sharing resources on our blog in the coming months.  PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Outgoing Vermont Poverty Law Fellow Publishes a Roadmap for VAAP VAAP also bid farewell to the incredible Vermont Poverty Law Fellow 2022-24, Maya Tsukazaki, Esq., who completed her immigration-focused fellowship at Vermont Law and Graduate School's Center for Justice Reform Clinic last month. As a parting gift, Maya published a final report outlining her powerful vision for the future of immigration justice in Vermont. Her recommendations include joining the national movement toward universal representation; streamlining immigration intake processes statewide; supporting volunteer networks with state-funded services; and pursuing legislative reforms to strengthen legal protections for noncitizens. We thank Maya for her trailblazing work and look forward to carrying her vision forward. INTRODUCING: Connecting Cultures' Corner   We’re excited to begin sharing VAAP newsletter and blog space with our multidisciplinary partners at Connecting Cultures, with whom VAAP collaborates closely to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed asylum seeker resettlement services. This round of Connecting Cultures' Corner, we spotlight: Videos by the Vermont Language Justice Project about free meals, voting, flood relief, and more. A country profile on Nepal. A clinician profile of Richard Norton. Upcoming trainings and events, and more! We are grateful to Connecting Cultures (formally known as New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma or NESTT) for paving the way for VAAP to exist and supporting us with funding to deliver legal services and community education. Check out our blog to learn more! SAVE THESE DATES ATTENTION, potential clients and potential volunteers: intake is OPEN! On select Wednesdays this fall, VAAP will mobilize volunteer advocates to help us respond to new requests for legal help and to assist asylum seekers with preparing and filing their initial application forms.  Potential clients with immigration legal questions can contact us between the hours of 11am and 5:30pm on select Wednesdays by calling, texting, emailing, WhatsApp, or social media messaging - or by visiting us in person in at our Burlington Office. During Walk-In Wednesday events we will speak to potential clients on a first come, first served basis. As VAAP continues to work on generating resources to professionalize our office administration, note that Walk-in Wednesdays will be the only way to request VAAP's legal help this fall. We are unfortunately unable to respond to requests at other times. Help us spread the word! Potential volunteers who are interested in getting involved, thank you! We seek volunteer lawyers and legal advocates who are willing to complete about 1.5 hours of virtual training followed by at least one 3-hour shift during any upcoming intake or application assistance events. Shifts can be completed virtually or in person, with a preference for in person. Please check out these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to learn more, request access to our insiders-only resource SharePoint to familiarize yourself with asylum law and practice, and express your no-obligation interest in volunteering today.  TL;DR: Save these dates! Wednesday, September 11: Walk-In Wednesday intake day, as above. **Legal volunteers needed! Tuesday, September 24: VAAP hosts virtual immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Wednesday, September 25: Appointment-only asylum application filing clinic. **Legal volunteers needed! Friday, September 27: VAAP presents a CLE in person at the Vermont Bar Association's annual meeting at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT. Wednesday, October 2: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. **Legal volunteers needed! Wednesday, October 16: Appointment-only asylum application filing clinic. **Legal volunteers needed! Tuesday, October 29: VAAP hosts virtual immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Wednesday, November 6: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. **Legal volunteers needed! Wednesday, November 20: Appointment-only asylum application filing clinic. **Legal volunteers needed! Tuesday, November 26: VAAP hosts immigration case rounds for VT lawyers and legal workers.  Wednesday, December 4: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. **Legal volunteers needed! Wednesday, December 18: Appointment-only asylum application filing clinic. **Legal volunteers needed! We'll share rolling updates through our blog, calendar, newsletters, and social media. Follow along and encourage potential clients and partners to do the same. You can also contact VAAP to express your no-obligation interest in volunteering. VOLUNTEERING Once again, for the folks sitting in the back: potential volunteers who are interested in getting involved, THANK YOU! VAAP seeks volunteer lawyers and legal workers who are willing to complete about 1.5 hours of virtual training followed by at least one 3-hour virtual or in person shift during any upcoming intake or application assistance events.                    These discreet volunteer shifts are a great opportunity to learn or fine-tune asylum law and practice skills and to help us advance VAAP’s mission. We’ll coordinate all logistics and provide you with training, resources, interpreters, supervision, practice insurance, and snacks! No experience or multilingual language skills necessary - just a willingness to learn and meet potential clients where they are at! Contact us to express your no-obligation interest and learn more.                             Whether you're completing your first-year attorney mentorship licensing requirements, planning your retirement projects, interested in skilling up, or interested in giving back, VAAP is here for you! THANK YOU FROM OUR TEAM   From our humble beginnings as a volunteer-led effort to today's paid staff of four, the VAAP staff and VAAP board extend our heartfelt thanks for making our mission a reality! Donate to VAAP   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

June 2024

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View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER JUNE 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of Vermont Asylum Assistance Project! VAAP staff are benefitting from the tremendous contributions of our wonderful summer intern team, so we have lots of great work to celebrate from the month of June. Most notably, we served 19 asylum seekers during VAAP's first in-person legal help clinic! As a result, we helped over a dozen families assert their claims and begin accruing time toward work authorization. Check out our growing blog and social media for details! Sharing endless thanks to the staff and interns of VAAP, Migrant Justice, and Vermont Law and Graduate School's Center for Justice Reform Clinic for behind-the-scenes work that made the event such a well-organized success. Special thanks to volunteer advocates Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, Faith Orr, Hillary Rich, Kristen Connors, Kira Botting, Lescha Carpenter, Jayvana Perez, Catalina Londono, Raul Muniz, Isaiah Gonzales, Jake Goodwin, Ryan Busse, Colleen McGovern, Kate Chandley, for providing clinic clients with such caring and quality service.  What's more, the very next day we awoke to co-deliver a first-for-Vermont asylum seeker support symposium to over 400 people in person and online! Here's how to access symposium materials: Stream the recording here. Please help us share widely! Watch WCAX coverage here.  Read about the event here and here. Request proof of attendance here. Note we are still working on obtaining CLE credit and will share an update in the July/August newsletter.  We're so grateful to all our presenters, attendees, organizers, and volunteers who made the event such a great success. We're especially thankful to the Vermont Poverty Law Fellow Maya Tsukazaki for making this her capstone fellowship project, and to the Vermont Asylum Support Network for trusting VAAP to help bring your vision to fruition. We are in talks with Connecting Cultures/New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma to reprise the event together in Burlington next year. Stay tuned! We're reflecting on what we learned over the course of our June programming to refine our service offerings and volunteer needs for the second half of the year. Read on for important updates and don't forget to review our website periodically for rolling updates on how we're carrying out our mission, what we're accomplishing, events we're scheduling, or to review past newsletters. FACT CHECK! Know Your Rights! VAAP is working on building our public-facing resource page. Meanwhile, we recommend immi.org as a reliable and bilingual source of Know Your Rights information, including information about what to expect during immigration court proceedings and how to assess yourself for the most common pathways to regularized immigration status. Last week, the Biden Administration extended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians through February 2026. Qualifying Haitians with TPS can visit USCIS to reregister. Also last week, former Burlington City Councilmember Ali Dieng hosted VAAP on his CCTV show, Ali's Corner to digest Biden's enacted and proposed changes to asylum seeking and adjudication and expanded family-based immigration pathways.  Despite the Biden changes, migrants continue to seek asylum at the U.S./Mexico border. This reporting is consistent with research data that tougher border policies do not achieve their stated purpose of reducing displaced peoples' need or practice of asylum seeking.  Meanwhile, Canada is piloting an interesting "Airbnb for refugees" emergency housing model that appears eerily similar to the one brainstormed during the symposium's case management workshop! "Operating like a non-profit version of Airbnb, an online home-sharing platform has been launched in the face of Canada’s housing crisis, addressing the needs of at least one particularly vulnerable group. The new tool by Refugee Housing Canada [go to this link for details...] matches asylum seekers in need of safe, secure accommodation with Canadian hosts who are willing to open their home and offer their spare rooms at an affordable rent..." REQUESTING HELP After working through our winter/spring waitlist and responding to dozens of new calls for legal help, VAAP's intake is now closed for the summer. Due to limited staffing, we are unable to responsibly manage a waitlist at this time. This means that, unfortunately, we will be unable to respond to any new help requests from now until September, besides what we have already committed to doing before this week. Intake will reopen in September 2024 when we will be piloting "Walk-in Wednesdays" as the only means of requesting VAAP's legal help. This means we will be supporting volunteers to welcome interested noncitizens to walk-in or call-in on specific days of the month to request legal help. Legal advocates, language access, and legal support volunteers will be on hand to assist with completing legal screenings, collecting all necessary client data, and offering brief advice and referrals as appropriate. We will be supplementing Walk-in Wednesdays with tabling efforts at select community events (such as the recent Mobile Mexican Consulate in Montpelier and the upcoming Migrant Justice Torneo de Futbol). If we identify during a "walk-in" intake clinic or tabling effort that VAAP is the appropriate provider to provide a person with immigration legal help, we will refer them to one of our by-appointment legal help clinics. There, VAAP advocates will help the person to prepare and/or review their immigration application forms for filing, with language access coordinated by VAAP. Otherwise we will orient folks to the legal system and their options, share resources, and make referrals.  All of this means we will not be registering or responding to referrals by email or voicemail going forward, except to inform referral makers/requestors of the upcoming Walk-in Wednesdays, and other intake clinics and tabling events, as the appropriate time to register the referral/request.  We will be sharing more information about "Walk-in Wednesdays" soon, but for now, potential clients, partners, and pro bonos can save the following dates as times when we'll be accepting walk-in and call-in requests for legal help: September 11, October 2, November 6, and December 4. No appointments necessary. We will be sharing rolling updates on our website blog, our calendar, our newsletters, and our social media. Follow those channels, encourage potential clients to do the same, and contact VAAP to express your no-obligation interest in volunteering at one of the clinic events! VOLUNTEERING We hope that all of our amazing volunteers save those dates, too, because we need you! If you are a lawyer or legal worker and you're interested in volunteering your time by providing an asylum seeker with free legal help but you're not quite sure where to start, check out our latest updates to our Volunteer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and email us for access to our pro bono email list serv and insiders-only Resource SharePoint. Not ready to take a case for full representation without some practice experience under your belt, or simply limited on time? Start by volunteering as an attorney-for-a-day at one of our upcoming pro se assistance clinics. The next one is July 13th at the Migrant Justice Torneo de Futbol. We'll be training and supervising pro bono advocates to assist walk-up Torneo participants with legal information, orientation, and referral making. We'll handle the language access, you just RSVP. Refreshments will be served! TL;DR: Don't wait to express your no-obligation interest in volunteering as attorney-for-a-day at one of our upcoming tabling events or legal clinics, or your interest in a deeper volunteer experience representing an asylum seeker from intake through to their merits hearing. Whether you're completing your first-year attorney mentorship licensing requirements, planning your retirement projects, interested in skilling up, or interested in giving back, VAAP its here to support you along the way.  PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Migrant Justice works to build the voice, capacity, and power of the farmworker community and engage community partners to organize for economic justice and human rights. Through community-building and collective bargaining, they contract farmer-employers and distributors to produce milk with dignity; disentangle local safety systems from federal immigration law enforcement to end "polimigra" practices; secure equitable higher education access regardless of immigration status; assist workers to defend against deportation; secure equitable Covid-19 stimulus relief and safe access to Vermont driver privilege cards; and much, much more. Numbering among the many incredible solidarity services Migrant Justice offers their members, staff regularly screen and refer members seeking immigration legal help to VAAP and our legal service partners. They also provide unrepresented members with highly skilled case support. Migrant Justice has welcomed VAAP to table at their signature summer event, a soccer tournament on Saturday, July 14, 2024 at Burlington's Leddy Park. Tabling will involve sharing outreach materials, fielding general questions, orienting people to the immigration system, and information gathering for eligible prospective clients. If you are interested in supporting our tabling effort for some or all of the July 13th Torneo, please email us to express your no-obligation interest. We need your help! Training and malpractice insurance provided! SAVE THE DATES Saturday, July 13: VAAP and volunteers will be tabling at Migrant Justice's Torneo de Futbol and offering walk-up individuals with legal orientation, brief advice, and referrals. Training, insurance, and refreshments always provided! Tuesday, July 30: Last Tuesday of each month, besides August and December, VAAP hosts virtual immigration legal case rounds for lawyers and legal workers to discuss law, policy, and practice questions and support each other. All are welcome! Wednesday, September 11: Walk-In Wednesday. VAAP and volunteers will be welcoming noncitizen Vermonters to call-in, or walk-in to VAAP's Burlington office, for legal orientation, brief advice, intake, and referrals. Tuesday, September 24: VAAP hosts immigration case rounds for lawyers and legal workers.  Friday, September 27: VAAP presenting at Vermont Bar Association's annual meeting at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT. Wednesday, October 2: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. Tuesday, October 29: VAAP hosts immigration case rounds for lawyers and legal workers.  Wednesday, November 6: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. Tuesday, November 26: VAAP hosts immigration case rounds for lawyers and legal workers.  Wednesday, December 4: Walk-In Wednesday. As above. Follow the VAAP calendar for more events as they unfold! Donate to VAAP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! -The VAAP Team MEET OUR TEAM Jill Martin Diaz (they/them), elle), Executive Director is VAAP's supervising attorney and first full-time paid staff. They come to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. They speak English and Spanish and are licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Marnie Avila Alvarez (she/her, ella), Paralegal Advocate/Program Coordinator, is a Cuban lawyer who is pursuing Vermont Law Office Study at VAAP. In 2014, she earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Havana University Faculty of Law and in 2023 completed her LLM as a Global Energy Fellow at Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. Before VAAP Marnie's legal work focused on renewable energy projects, regulatory compliance, and environmental law. Since coming to the U.S., she gained experience handling immigration cases, providing support to individuals navigating the immigration system, and advocating for fair and just immigration policies. In 2022, Marnie co-founded Alviera Group LLC, which assists immigrants to establish themselves legally, economically, and socially in the United States, while supporting clean energy access and energy efficiency solutions for the immigrant community. Marnie serves as adjunct faculty at VLGS, teaching their Global Sustainability Field Class in Cuba every year. Becky Wasserman (she/her), Board Member is an attorney and the Director of Economic Empowerment at the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam and community partners. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they), Board Member is the Executive Director of the Milk With Dignity Standards Council. She has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro, VT. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Board Member is the Director of Finance at Evernorth and lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Board Member is Burlington Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's Chief of Staff. Previously she worked as Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, and before that she was a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. There, she served as the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Faith Orr (she/her), Board Member is a third-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar.   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

May 2024

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View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER MAY 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of Vermont Asylum Assistance Project! We have so many exciting developments to report from May. Chief among them, VAAP's staff has DOUBLED in size as we welcomed the inimitable Marnie Avila Alvarez, LLM (she/her/ella) to our team and then, with her help, oriented four superstar interns to spend 10 weeks supporting VAAP this summer. More on our growing staff below, and more on our fabulous intern team in our June newsletter. Stay tuned! We also hosted a handful of advocates at our second monthly case rounds on Zoom; scheduled three self-help clinics for dozens of unrepresented asylum seekers seeking help from an attorney-for-a-day; placed two emergency-file and two more LGBTQ+ asylum seekers with advocates for full pro bono representation; spoke at South Burlington High School's Law Day and at University of Vermont's new interdisciplinary immigration justice program; marched alongside Migrant Justice on May Day in solidarity with Milk with Dignity; and finalized plans for a first-for-Vermont public education symposium, flyer below. The June 14th "Welcoming New Americans" Symposium is FREE and HYBRID online/in-person and OPEN TO ALL. Please JOIN US and bring your friends, neighbors, and organizations! Download the flyer here.   We're keeping plenty busy here at VAAP in part to stave off the heaviness of bearing witness to global genocides that force migration, overlayed with the anti-immigrant vitriol of the accelerating U.S. presidential election. Counter-balancing misinformation about asylum seeking in the U.S., and helping noncitizen survivors of foreign torture and trauma to retell their stories and secure asylum here in VT, are the core of our legal work here at VAAP.  We appreciate what an exceedingly difficult time this is in our shared history, and we encourage our supporters to not only give what you can, but to also take what you need. How can VAAP support you during this time? At a minimum, VAAP is here to help you think globally while acting locally, and to share in the group project of making Vermont a more welcoming, equitable, and inclusive place for our most diverse community members.  Read on for more VAAP news including upcoming training opportunities, invitations to volunteer as attorney-for-a-day, a partner organization feature, staff highlights, fact checks, and more. Visit our website for rolling updates on how we're carrying out our mission and what we're accomplishing, events we're scheduling, or to review past newsletters. FACT CHECK! We offer thanks to the lawmakers and organizers who made the 2024 Vermont Legislative Session such a productive one for advancing immigrants' rights. Visit our website for a complete rundown of all local immigration-related law and policy developments that stand to improve the lived experience of Vermont noncitizens, regardless of where they stand on their immigration legal journey. We are fortunate to live in a state that leads the nation in advancing immigrants' rights, especially at a time when many other states are remaining silent in the face of an intractably harmful federal system or, worst of all, affirmatively passing laws to criminalize and further endanger the experience of immigrants in their communities. Take a look at this complete list of this session's worker, healthcare, and education rights advancements, increased protections against the criminalization of immigration and immigration-status discrimination, and the increased enfranchisement of noncitizen Vermonters. At the federal level, VAAP is closely monitoring how the Biden Administration's new expedited processing policy for Boston Immigration Court may or may not impact case processing for Vermont noncitizens. Recall that the Administration recently announced its plan to transfer venue of proceedings for all respondents' who report a Vermont-based zip code to the Lowell Immigration Court in Chelmsford, MA. Transfers to Lowell are well underway, and several VAAP clients have already appeared for master calendar hearings there. On June, 4, 2024, VAAP heard from the Assistant Chief Immigration Judge for Boston and Lowell that Boston's new "recent arrivals" accelerated docket should not include noncitizens with a Vermont address nor individuals who arrived before May 2024. The ACIJ confirmed that no such accelerated docket is being created at Lowell. This means a Vermont noncitizen scheduled for removal proceedings in Boston, whether part of the "recent arrivals" accelerated docket or not, can ask their Immigration Judge to "change venue" of their proceedings to Lowell Immigration Court, where their case will be subject to routine case processing speeds at a court that is slightly more accessible geographically to Vermont.  Meanwhile, we recommend that folks with Immigration Court proceedings continue to regularly monitor their case status using the DOJ self-help case status portal, https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/en/, and take care not to miss any court hearings to avoid the risk of being ordered removed in your absence (in abstentia).  Finally, regarding the breaking news that President Biden has signed today an executive order severely restricting asylum seeking at the U.S. border, VAAP is monitoring the story and will be prepared to share updates and analysis of the proclamation, available here, at the June 14th symposium and beyond.  ADVOCATE SPOTLIGHT                                       Last month, VAAP warmly welcomed to our staff our newest advocate, Paralegal Advocate/Program Coordinator Marnie Avila Alvarez, LLM (she/her, ella). Marnie is a Cuban lawyer who earned her law degree magna cum laude in 2014 from the Havana University Faculty of Law. After earning her LLM in 2023 at Vermont Law and Graduate School, she is now reading for the bar through Vermont Law Office Study and pursuing Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition and Accreditation to practice immigration law federal agencies in the meantime. Marnie's legal career is marked by a deep commitment to serving marginalized communities and advocating for their rights. She previously focused her legal practice on international business, trade, and energy law until 2021, when she was accepted as a Global Energy/LLM Fellow at Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. With a background in energy law and a focus on sustainability, she has been deeply involved in legal research, writing, and case management related to clean energy solutions, renewable energy projects, regulatory compliance, and environmental law.  Marnie developed a keen interest in U.S. immigration law over the course of her own resettlement in Vermont, yielding skills and experiences that she promptly paid forward by offering support to other individuals navigating the U.S. immigration system. In 2022, Marnie co-founded the Alviera Group LLC, a company dedicated to assisting immigrants in establishing themselves legally, economically, and socially in the United States, with a strong commitment towards supporting clean energy access and energy efficiency solutions for the immigrant community in the country.  Marnie's professional experience spans both private practice and nonprofit settings, giving her a well-rounded understanding of legal issues from multiple perspectives. Her ability to connect with clients, understand their needs, and provide effective legal assistance make her a most valuable asset to the VAAP team. Furthermore, she brings teaching experience to her role, serving as an adjunct faculty at the Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, and having previously served as a law professor at Havana University Faculty of Law. Her dedication to educating future legal professionals reflects her commitment to fostering a more just and equitable legal system. This includes her commitment of supporting and developing a more robust international students’ community in Vermont.  In her new role at VAAP, Marnie is poised to make a significant impact for our fledgling organization by leveraging her legal skills, energy focus, and passion for immigration law to support asylum seekers and advocate for their rights in the United States. Please join us in warmly welcoming Marnie to the team!                                          Furthermore, come September 2024, VAAP will also welcome a third incredible advocate to our staff, Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow Cameron Briggs Ramos (she/her, ella). Cameron will join VAAP as the state's and Vermont Law and Graduate School's first-ever Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow. Her focus will be growing VAAP's direct legal services practice, beginning with universal representation for "unaccompanied children" who are navigating immigration removal proceedings in Vermont. Happy Graduation, Cameron! We cannot wait to welcome you soon. PARTNER SPOTLIGHT                                              Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) and the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) are two southern Vermont organizations supporting the safe resettlement of asylum seekers and refugees in Vermont. ECDC is one of the state's designated refugee resettlement support organizations for individuals arriving in Vermont with "refugee" status. CASP is one of the state's community-based organizations that emerged to offer comparable supports to asylum seeking Vermonters awaiting a "refugee" determination by the U.S. government.                                            VAAP is mentoring paralegal advocates at both partner organizations to assist our mutual client communities with filing initial asylum applications, work permit applications and renewals, applications for derivative beneficiary family members, and green card applications for asylees and refugees with a year or more in that status. Subscribe to our newsletters and/or monitor our websites closely to learn more about upcoming self-help clinics, community education opportunities, and other collaborative events that VAAP is partnering with CASP and ECDC to deliver to advance our common goal of improving Vermont noncitizens' access to immigration counsel. PRO BONO TRAINING Earn CLEs with us at the VBA Meeting on 9/27! After hosting VAAP for two highly attended continuing legal education (CLE) seminars this month, the Vermont Bar Association (VBA) has welcomed VAAP to present an "immigration intersections" themed session at its upcoming September 27th meeting in Fairlee, Vermont. Save the date! As always, participating means CLE credit, supporting our wonderful Bar, and spending an early fall day at the gorgeous Lake Morey Resort. See you there!   Join us at our 6/14  Welcoming New Americans Symposium! You and your organizations are warmly invited to an English-language multidisciplinary symposium covering the ins and outs of welcoming recently arrived immigrants to Vermont. People classed as "refugees" are eligible for government-sponsored resettlement supports—but what about people who are seeking asylum to become a "refugee," who comprise the majority of individuals facing immigration removal proceedings today? This interactive, practical symposium on June 14 will cover the law, practice, and experience of asylum-seeking in Vermont. Scroll up to the top of this newsletter for the full program agenda and speaker list. In-person attendance is limited, so register ASAP to secure your spot. Thanks to our generous sponsors, registration is FREE, lunch and refreshments will be served, and Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit is pending. If you can't join us in person, we will stream online and also record for those who RSVP.  Co-sponsored by the Vermont Asylum Seeker Network community-based organizations, Vermont Afghan Alliance, Vermont Law and Graduate School's Center for Justice Reform Clinic, and Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. Complete our online training! In Fall 2023, the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project partnered with Vecina, a Texas-based nonprofit founded with the mission to “empower immigrant justice advocates through mentoring attorneys, educating communities, and mobilizing volunteers.”  We are excited to share that Vecina has designed two online training modules that are available to VAAP pro bono attorneys. The first module is an overview of affirmative asylum and the second trains attorneys to conduct in-depth asylum client intakes. We are so grateful to Vecina for these resources and look forward to sharing them with pro bono attorneys who are interested in volunteering with us.  Please email us for details on how to access these trainings. GET INVOLVED Updated Pro Bono FAQs and Pro Se Asylum Clinics If you are interested in volunteering your time by providing an asylum seeker with free legal help, but you're not quite sure where to start, check out these Frequently Asked Questions which we'll keep updated on a rolling basis. Next, email us for access to our pro bono email list serv and insiders-only Resource SharePoint. Not ready to take a case for full representation without some practice experience under your belt? Start by volunteering as an attorney-for-a-day at one of our upcoming pro se assistance clinics. The next one is June 13th at the Vermont Law and Graduate School's Burlington Office. We'll be training and supervising pro bono attorneys to assist pro se asylum seekers with with applications on USCIS Form I-589. We'll handle intake and language access, you just RSVP! Refreshments will be served! Our next two self help clinics will be June 22nd at the Mobile Mexican Consulate in Montpelier and at the July 13th Justicia Migrant Torneo de Futbol (Migrant Justice's annual soccer tournament and community celebration). Join us! Donate to VAAP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM MEET OUR TEAM Jill Martin Diaz (they/them), elle), Executive Director is VAAP's supervising attorney and first full-time paid staff. They come to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. They speak English and Spanish and are licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Marnie Avila Alvarez (she/her, ella) is a Cuban lawyer who is completing Vermont Law Office Study as VAAP's inaugural Paralegal Advocate and Program Coordinator. In 2014, she earned her law degree magna cum laude from the Havana University Faculty of Law and in 2023 completed her LLM as a Global Energy Fellow at Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment.. Marnie has been deeply involved in legal research, writing, and case management related to renewable energy projects, regulatory compliance, and environmental law. In addition, she has experience handling immigration cases, providing support to individuals navigating the immigration system, and advocating for fair and just immigration policies. In 2022, Marnie co-founded Alviera Group LLC, which assists immigrants to establish themselves legally, economically, and socially in the United States, while supporting clean energy access and energy efficiency solutions for the immigrant community. Marnie serves as adjunct faculty at VLGS, teaching their Global Sustainability Field Class to Cuba every year. Becky Wasserman (she/her), Board Member is an attorney and the Executive Director of the VT Saves Program in the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam.  Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they), Board Member is the Executive Director of the Milk With Dignity Standards Council. She has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro, VT. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Board Member is the Director of Finance at Evernorth and lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Board Member is Burlington Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's Chief of Staff. Previously she worked as Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, and before that she was a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. There, she served as the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Faith Orr (she/her), Board Secretary is a second-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar.   Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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April 2024

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View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of VAAP! April brought us lots of exciting developments, in keeping with the transition to spring. On the education front, we hosted our first virtual attorney case rounds, during which six pro bono humanitarian immigration attorneys gathered to workshop case strategy and share learning.   We also advanced planning for Vermont's first-ever statewide asylum public education forum on June 14th, to which you are all cordially invited! More on that below! On the staffing front, we learned we will be honored as Vermont's first-ever host of the Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowship, with our first attorney-fellow joining us full-time in September 2024. We also recruited our first Paralegal Advocate/Program Coordinator who will pursue Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition & Accreditation as well as undertake the Vermont Law Office Study Program - more on that next month! On the direct services front, we supervised our first remote legal help clinic in partnership with Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) and the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), assisting about a dozen humanitarian status seekers and their families to seek asylum and apply for adjustment of status. We also continued to work through our long-and-growing waitlist for asylum eligibility screenings, successfully placing asylum seekers from countries including Iran, Turkey, and Ecuador with pro bono attorneys for limited or full representation.  Finally, on the advocacy front, we published our first Op/Ed to help diversify the voices reflecting on Vermont immigration in mainstream media. We offered expert testimony to a variety of congressional committees and executive branch leaders and committees in support of H.606, which Governor Scott is expected to sign into law this month.   We also submitted a request for Congressionally Directed Spending to grow our Paralegal Team amidst a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse?! Amazing! Read on for more VAAP news including upcoming training opportunities, pro se assistance clinics, a partner organization feature, a fact check, and more. FACT CHECK! A REMINDER that all Boston Immigration Court cases in which the Respondent reports living at a Vermont-based zip code are being moved to the new Lowell Immigration Court in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. It is very likely that if you have any upcoming court date scheduled at the Boston Immigration Court, the date and location of your next hearing will be changed with very short notice. We recommend checking the Immigration Court's online system weekly while your case is in Immigration Court, by visiting https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/en/ and typing in your "A-number" (an 8 or 9 digit number listed on the top section of most immigration documents).  We are closely monitoring reports from Lowell being shared among the American Immigration Lawyers Association's New England Chapter and the Northern New England Practitioners' Group. So far, the Lowell Immigration Judges sound thorough and relatively fair, and the return dates sound much sooner than what Judges were offering in Boston (including same-year next hearing dates for Respondents who request them). Keep an eye on Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) for Lowell Immigration Court stats and individual Immigration Judges' grant and denial rates. We're supervising a pro bono attorney for all our first Lowell-based Master Calendar Hearing this week; we'll keep you updated! PARTNER SPOTLIGHT                                     Connecting Cultures/New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma (NESTT) are two names for the same incredible program, of which VAAP is lucky to be a part. Connecting Cultures is an interdisciplinary partnership of psychological, social worker, case management, legal, medical, physical therapy, and other providers who collaborate to provide survivors of "torture," as defined by the TVPA, with holistic, integrated, and effective services in a culturally relevant and client-centered context. VAAP's Executive Director, Jill Martin Diaz, is fortunate to direct the legal wing of the Connecting Cultures partnership, which streamlines VAAP clients' access to forensic psychological and medical evaluations, human services and medical care, counselling, and more. Connecting Cultures is supported by funding from the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which constitutes a large proportion of funding at VAAP. We are all in the process of updating our websites, so please reach out to us with any questions or to get connected to other partners in the Connecting Cultures consortium.    PRO BONO TRAINING Earn CLEs with us at the Vermont Bar Association in May! The Vermont Bar Association (VBA) is hosting VAAP for two immigration 101 trainings this month: one overviewing the origins, structure, and practice of immigration law in a nutshell, and the other overviewing exciting immigration-related legal developments happening locally in Vermont. Yes, these trainings are paywalled, BUT participating means CLE credit and supporting our wonderful Bar.  Share learning at a groundbreaking interdisciplinary forum in June! You and your organizations are warmly invited to an English-language multidisciplinary symposium covering the ins and outs of welcoming recently arrived immigrants to Vermont. People classed as "refugees" are eligible for government-sponsored resettlement supports—but what about people who are seeking asylum to become a "refugee," who comprise the majority of individuals facing immigration removal proceedings today? This interactive, practical symposium on June 14 will cover the law, practice, and experience of asylum-seeking in Vermont.   Confirmed presenters include Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV); U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI); the Center for Justice Reform Clinic (CRJC); Vermont Language Justice Project (VLJP); Vermont Legal Aid (VLA); Vermont Afghan Alliance (VAA); Connecting Cultures; the Vermont State Refugee Office (SRO); Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP); and beyond!    In-person attendance is limited, so register ASAP to secure your spot. Thanks to our generous sponsors, registration is FREE, lunch and refreshments will be served, and Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit is pending. If you can't join us in person, we will stream online and also record for those who RSVP.  Co-sponsored by the Vermont Asylum Seeker Network, Vermont Afghan Alliance, Vermont Law and Graduate School's Vermont Poverty Law Fellow, and Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. Complete our online training! In Fall 2023, the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project partnered with Vecina, a Texas-based nonprofit founded with the mission to “empower immigrant justice advocates through mentoring attorneys, educating communities, and mobilizing volunteers.”  We are excited to share that Vecina has designed two online training modules that are available to VAAP pro bono attorneys. The first module is an overview of affirmative asylum and the second trains attorneys to conduct in-depth asylum client intakes. We are so grateful to Vecina for these resources and look forward to sharing them with pro bono attorneys who are interested in volunteering with us.  Please email us for details on how to access these trainings. GET INVOLVED Updated Pro Bono FAQs and Pro Se Asylum Clinics If you are interested in volunteering your time by providing an asylum seeker with free legal help, but you're not quite sure where to start, check out these Frequently Asked Questions which we'll keep updated on a rolling basis. Next, take a look at our public-facing online resources and then email us for access to our pro bono email list and insiders-only Resource SharePoint. Not ready to take a case for full representation without some practice experience under your belt? Start by volunteering as an attorney-for-a-day at one of our upcoming pro se assistance clinics. The next one is June 13th at the Vermont Law and Graduate School's Burlington Office. We'll be training and supervising pro bono attorneys to assist pro se asylum seekers with with applications on USCIS Form I-589. We'll handle intake and language access, you just RSVP! Refreshments will be served! Donate to VAAP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM MEET OUR TEAM Jill Martin Diaz (they/them), Executive Director is VAAP's supervising attorney and first full-time paid staff. They come to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. They speak English and Spanish and are licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Board Member is Burlington Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's Chief of Staff. Previously she worked as Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, and before that she was a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. There, she served as the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Board Member is the Director of Finance at Evernorth and lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Board Secretary is a second-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they), Board Member is the Executive Director of the Milk With Dignity Standards Council. She has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro, VT. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Becky Wasserman (she/her), Board Member is an attorney and the Executive Director of the VT Saves Program in the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam.    Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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March 2024

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View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER MARCH 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Greetings, friends of VAAP! Lots to highlight from March. On the local front, March saw VAAP placing newly screened cases, recording ethics training, and celebrating our award-winning pro bono attorneys. On the national front, March brought VAAP to Washington for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's National Day of Action. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice officially re-venued all Vermont respondents' removal proceedings to its new Lowell Immigration Court (actually located in Chelmsford, MA). Read on for details! The Vermont Poverty Law Fellow, the Prisoners' Rights Office, and the Central Vermont Refugee Action Network (CVRAN) joined VAAP in congratulating VAAP volunteer attorney Seth Lipschutz for receiving the Vermont Bar Association’s distinguished 2024 Pro Bono Service Award. The Award recognizes the “extraordinary legal services” Attorney Lipschutz has provided to indigent asylum seekers in our community since retiring from his storied career at the Vermont Prisoners’ Rights Office in 2019. We thank Seth for his ongoing service! If you are planning for retirement and want to learn more about volunteering with VAAP as a Pro Bono Emeritus Attorney, get in touch today! The Vermont Poverty Law Fellow also joined VAAP as Vermont Delegates at American Immigration Lawyers Association's National Day of Action in Washington. While there, the offices of Representative Balint, Senator Sanders, and Senator Welch solicited case stories from us that illustrated how national immigration issues are impacting noncitizens back home in Vermont. We offered them local context for the ways AILA's proposal for comprehensive legislative fixes would make Vermont a safer and more equitable place for noncitizens to live, work, and raise their families.  Our bottom line was that responding to immigration legal needs at the borders alone will not make our broken immigration system function better or more fairly or justly; to fix the system, we need Congress to legislate solutions to pre-existing, less sensationalized immigration reform needs in the interior including by increasing pathways to status, appropriately resourcing the agencies that process applications, and defunding agencies amounting to the largest armed law enforcement agency in the world. See what partners at the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition have to say about it, and make your voice heard here: https://www.aila.org/advocacy-tools/aila-s-advocacy-action-center.  In regional news, the Department of Justice issued notice that noncitizen respondents with a Vermont zip code noted in their removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge will now have their cases heard at the new Lowell Immigration Court in Chelmsford, MA. This means respondents with next hearings scheduled in Boston Immigration Court should expect those hearings to be cancelled and rescheduled at Lowell to some future date. This could mean that cases are going to be heard sooner or later than what was expected for their next hearing date in Boston. We are monitoring updates from AILA New England Chapter colleagues and will share guidance with pro bono attorneys on request and via VAAP's Resource SharePoint (to which active attorneys have access) as we learn more.  Meanwhile, we recommend attorneys also monitor Political Asylum/Immigration Project (PAIR) updates and Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) Maine's updates for the latest. If you are concerned about how the move to Lowell Immigration Court will impact an asylum seeker you are assisting, contact VAAP for guidance! If you or someone you know might be impacted by this change, you can check your court date and location online here https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/en/ by typing in your A-number (which is an 8 or 9 digit number on most immigration documents). PRO BONO TRAINING Save the date! VAAP has partnered with the Vermont Poverty Law Fellow the Vermont and New Hampshire Asylum Seeker Network to deliver an Asylum Seeker Symposium at Vermont Law and Graduate School on June 14th. We would love to have you join us for this interdisciplinary public education event in person in South Royalton or online at vermontlaw.edu/live. More soon! Complete our online training! VAAP has partnered with Vecina, a Texas-based nonprofit working to “empower immigrant justice advocates through mentoring attorneys, educating communities, and mobilizing volunteers.”  We are excited to share that Vecina has designed two online training modules that are available to VAAP pro bono attorneys via the VAAP Resource SharePoint to which actively engaged attorney have access. The first module is an overview of affirmative asylum and the second trains attorneys on how to conduct in-depth asylum client intakes.  VAAP was also welcomed to join our local partners at the U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants Vermont (USCRI) at a well-attended Ethics for Immigration Lawyers workshop presented by Vermont Judiciary Bar Counsel, Michael Kennedy. Thanks to USCRI for organizing and inviting participation from our pro bono attorneys with active asylum cases, and thanks to Attorney Kennedy for supporting their work.  We are so grateful to our partners for these resources and look forward to sharing them with pro bono attorneys who are interested in volunteering with us. Please email us for details on how to access these trainings and the SharePoint. Stay tuned for VAAP's training calendar coming soon and be sure to subscribe to the Vermont Bar Association's newsletter for early access to the live Continuing Legal Education (CLE) training sessions VAAP will be offering later this year! GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance, including individuals and families from Afghanistan.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Seeking Board Members VAAP is looking for dynamic board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply. Special consideration will be given to anyone with lived immigration experience as well as those with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds. Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that will help us support pro bono asylum legal work across Vermont. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. Donate to VAAP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM MEET OUR TEAM Jill Martin Diaz (they/them), Executive Director is VAAP's supervising attorney and first full-time paid staff. They come to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. They are licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Board Member is Chief of Staff of Burlington Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak. She was most recently an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. Previously, she was a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Board Member lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Board Member is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they), Board Member has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Becky Wasserman (she/her), Board Member is an attorney and the Executive Director of the VT Saves Program in the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam and a group of immigration attorneys and advocates from around the state.    Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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January/February 2024

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View this email in your browser VAAP NEWSLETTER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM This winter, VAAP celebrated the arrival of our first full-time staff member in Attorney Jill Martin Diaz. After settling into Vermont Green Offices, a sustainable coworking space in Burlington's Old North End, they hit the ground running fulfilling their duties as Executive Director. Jill completed intakes for asylum seekers from countries including Brazil, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, and Mexico; mentored new and existing volunteer attorneys representing asylum seekers pro bono; coordinated with partners statewide to develop VAAP programming for 2024; developed infrastructure for professional case supervision and online resource management; fundraised to support VAAP's sustainable growth; and more.    READ ON for additional news and trainings opportunities! On February 1, Jill also spoke with WCAX about the impact of improving access to immigration counsel and the variety of ways folks can contact VAAP to request or offer asylum legal help. Watch the clip here: Thanks to an invitation from the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV), Jill also participated in a liaison meeting with leaders of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) and the Enforcement and Removals Office (ERO). What we learned is that, now more than ever, noncitizens’ access to counsel in removal proceedings will mean the difference between which asylum seekers receive a fast and fair hearing and which do not. ICE reports actively prosecuting about 307,000 non-detained removal cases across New England. Of these, about 900 cases are for noncitizens based in Vermont, all of whom are subject to the jurisdiction of Boston Immigration Court (for now). OPLA's Boston team of 28 attorneys are prosecuting over 150,000 cases overall, up from 120k last year and 90k the year before that. It is unclear when Immigration Judges will begin hearing removal cases, including for Vermont-based respondents, at the new Lowell Immigration Court.   ICE reports supervising 200 dedicated beds across northern New England for noncitizens who the immigration law says ICE must detain as well as those the law says ICE may detain subject to review by an Immigration Judge. None of these beds are in Vermont, so the agencies have 72 hours to relocate a person newly detained in Vermont to an ICE facility in a nearby state. Note that if the agencies detain someone under 18 years old, they should relocate the youth to less restrictive Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody in a nearby state while plans are made to release the youth to a parent, guardian, or other custodian in concert with the appropriate state-level child protection agency(s).   ICE reports that most Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and ICE officers patrolling the Swanton Sector, which includes most of Vermont, are working up north for short term periods while detailed from other regional offices. This explains why we are seeing inconsistent application of these agencies’ own prosecutorial discretion policies by CBP and ICE officers making immigration arrests in our communities.   Note that this month Canada reimposed visa restrictions for Mexican nationals to curb asylum seeking in Canada and at the U.S./Canada border. VAAP is collaborating with the U.S./Canada Border Network to monitor access to justice for noncitizens caught up in the political crossfire, who continue to have an unqualified right to seek asylum in the U.S. pursuant INA § 208 and international law. We will continue to monitor reporting on northern border crossings.   TL;DR: As CBP and ICE (and Canada) ramp up border enforcement, we will continue to see more cases entering and then stagnating in the U.S. Immigration Court system.   As no-cost asylum attorneys and advocates, here’s what we can do:   Help noncitizens know their rights. Everyone in the U.S. has the right to assert their fear of returning to their country of origin at ANY time; to request a credible fear interview by the government; to request review by an Immigration Judge if their fear is found “not credible;” and to go through this process with an interpreter (at the government’s expense) and with an attorney (at their own expense).    Promote government accountability for its own rules. Help VAAP document the manner and methods in which agencies are enforcing immigration laws in our border communities by writing info@vaapvt.org, so we can track agencies’ compliance with the U.S.-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement, Vermont Fair and Impartial Policing policies, and Vermont antidiscrimination and human rights laws, as well as international and federal immigration and due process laws.   Enter our appearance for an asylum seeker in removal proceedings! Access to counsel helps asylum seekers meet confusing statutory filing deadlines, prove up complex legal standards, and accelerate toward receiving a work authorized social security number that is the key to government-issued ID, work, banking, health care, professional licensure, you name it. As for ensuring access to a fair hearing, Asylum legal counsel also makes it exponentially more likely that an asylum seeker will ultimately prevail in their case. As for ensuring access to a fast hearing, ICE OPLA shares our interest in seeing asylum cases litigated to their finality and taken off the docket, so let’s make it easy for them! For a well papered case, ICE will join a Motion to Advance an asylum seeker’s final merits hearings and can even stipulate to some of the key elements the asylum seeker must prove to win. These types of legal work are VAAP’s bread and butter. JOIN US! PRO BONO TRAINING Complete our online training! In Fall 2023, the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project partnered with Vecina, a Texas-based nonprofit founded with the mission to “empower immigrant justice advocates through mentoring attorneys, educating communities, and mobilizing volunteers.”  We are excited to share that Vecina has designed two online training modules that are available to VAAP pro bono attorneys. The first module is an overview of affirmative asylum and the second trains attorneys to conduct in-depth asylum client intakes. We are so grateful to Vecina for these resources and look forward to sharing them with pro bono attorneys who are interested in volunteering with us.  Please email us for details on how to access these trainings. Join us at the Vermont Bar Association's Mid-Year Meeting! We are looking very forward to attending the VBA's spring conference on March 29 in Burlington, which offers several CLE sessions directly on point:   Leveraging Collective Care & Social Work Strategies to Address Workplace Trauma & Stress (1.5 MCLE wellness), 8:30am - 10:00am, Speaker: Cassie Gillespie. Attorneys and legal professionals are exposed to stress, human suffering, and secondary trauma every day at work. The impact of this exposure can be significant. Nevertheless, many people who work in the legal profession have not been supported to address workplace trauma exposure or have only been asked to address it at the individual level with self-care practices. Self-care is not solving the problems of workplace stress, trauma, and burnout. Leveraging the power of teams and professional relationships is the next frontier in tackling workplace impact. This session will explore workplace trauma exposure and how we can think differently about preventing it.   Take an International Tour (1.5 MCLE general), 10:30am - 12:00pm, Speakers: Kristen Connors, Molly Gray, Mark Oettinger, Maya Tsukazaki, and Nathan Virag. Got cabin fever? No passport needed. Let the VBA’s International Law & Practice Section (ILP) take you on a tour of current topics in international law. Molly Gray and Nathan Virag will describe the legal challenges facing Vermont’s immigrant population…and what they are doing to help. Spoiler alert! They’re looking for help. Then, Kristen Connors and Maya Tsukazaki will discuss the related topic of Immigration Relief for Young Vermonters. Even if you’ve never considered handling a case with cross-border characteristics, you need to be able to spot cross-border issues when they arise. And yes, there are more pro bono opportunities available. And speaking of issue spotting, the final third of the event will feature Moderator and ILP Chair Mark Oettinger addressing International Law Issue Spotting for the Vermont Practitioner, and providing a brief update on the status of Supranational Courts. We don’t see as much international law in Vermont as one might in a place like New York City or Los Angeles. That said, the world is becoming a smaller place, and some would argue that we are witnessing a convergence between common law and civil law systems. In Vermont, we share a border with a French-speaking civil law jurisdiction. Are you comfortable when a long-standing client wants to export…or import…or wants to hire a non-U.S. citizen…or can’t travel to Canada because of a DUI conviction from college. The potential fact patterns are endless. And they’re unusual…and hence fun! Join us in exploring current events in the context of international law. US Supreme Court Update (1.0 MCLE general), 2:00pm - 3:00pm, Speaker: Rod Smolla, President, VLGS Vermont Law and Graduate School. Rod Smolla will present an update on the evolving constitutional jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing principally on those areas of constitutional law that are currently undergoing major change. The topics will include discussion of the Court’s reshaping of the meaning of the Religion Clauses, the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, separation of powers principles, and doctrines circumscribing the powers of administrative agencies. The update will include as a theme the Court’s increasing emphasis on textualism and originalism as driving approaches to constitutional interpretation. Everything You Wanted to Know About Ethics But Were Afraid to Ask (now's your chance!) (1.5 MCLE ethics), 3:30pm - 5:00pm, Speakers: Mike Kennedy and Stuart Teicher. Okay, maybe that’s slightly overselling it. The program won’t be about absolutely everything. But it’s going to cover a lot of ground…and you’ll be able to ask questions! Join Vermont’s Bar Counsel Michael Kennedy and his guest, educator Stuart Teicher, as they take your questions on the ethics issues you’d like to talk about. Plus, they have some words of their own. We’ll be discussing the latest in artificial intelligence, issues about conflicts, and more! GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance, including individuals and families from Afghanistan.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Seeking Board Members VAAP is looking for dynamic board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply. Special consideration will be given to anyone with lived immigration experience as well as those with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds. Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that will help us support pro bono asylum legal work across Vermont. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. Donate to VAAP THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM MEET OUR TEAM Jill Martin Diaz (they/them), Executive Director is VAAP's supervising attorney and first full-time paid staff. They come to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. They are licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Board Chair is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Board Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Board Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they), Board Member has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Becky Wasserman (she/her), Board Member is an attorney and the Executive Director of the VT Saves Program in the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam.    Vermont Asylum Assistance Project  P.O. Box 814, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402 802-999-5654 ‖ info@vaapvt.org ‖ www.vaapvt.org Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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December 2023

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View this email in your browser PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM As we approach the New Year, we wanted to thank you for your invaluable contributions to VAAP this past year and announce some exciting changes that are coming in 2024.  We are thrilled to announce that Jill Martin Diaz (they/them) will join VAAP in January as the organization's inaugural Executive Director.  Jill comes to VAAP with significant immigration law experience.  Most recently, Jill was a Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Center for Justice Reform, where they taught doctrinal immigration law and led the Center for Justice Reform Clinic (CJRC).  The new CJRC grew from the legacy Vermont Immigrant Assistance clinic project, Vermont's foremost immigration legal service provider and its only pro bono removal defender.  We are so excited to have Jill join the VAAP team and help us to grow Vermont's immigration legal services bar into a more diversified, accessible, and sustainable one. Keep reading below for additional news and trainings for pro bono attorneys! PRO BONO TRAINING New Training Modules for Pro Bonos In Fall 2023, the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project partnered with Vecina, a Texas-based nonprofit founded with the mission to “empower immigrant justice advocates through mentoring attorneys, educating communities, and mobilizing volunteers.”  We are excited to share that Vecina has designed two online training modules that are available to VAAP pro bono attorneys.  The first module is an overview of affirmative asylum and the second trains attorneys to conduct asylum client intakes. We are so grateful to Vecina for these resources and look forward to sharing them with pro bono attorneys who are interested in volunteering with us.  Please email us for details on how to access these trainings. GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Afghan Asylum Project We have recently started matching attorneys to work on Afghan asylum cases through the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV).  AALV are still in need of more pro bono attorneys to assist them with additional Afghan asylum cases.  AALV staff would be on-hand to mentor pro bono attorneys, including by answering questions and reviewing drafts.  Please email us if you are interested in assisting with one of these cases.   Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that will help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP MEET OUR BOARD Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Becky Wasserman (she/her) (Co-Founder) Becky is an attorney and the Executive Director of the VT Saves Program in the Office of the State Treasurer. Becky started working with asylum seekers more than ten years ago through her law school’s immigration clinic. Since then she has worked in a pro bono capacity on a number of immigration matters, including volunteering at the southern border in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she co-founded the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, with Kate Paarlberg-Kvam.  Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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November 2023

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View this email in your browser PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM During this Thanksgiving holiday, we wanted to take a moment to thank all of our volunteers and donors whose generous time and support make it possible for us to help asylum seekers in Vermont.  We are grateful for your support! Keep reading below for additional news and trainings for pro bono attorneys! PRO BONO NEWS USCIS Reverts to 180-Day Automatic Extensions of Employment  On October 27th, USCIS announced it will end its temporary 540-day automatic extension period for filing certain employment authorization documents.  In May 2022, USCIS implemented by temporary rule an increase in the automatic extension period from 180 days to up to 540 days for certain renewal applicants.  This temporary rule was in effect until October 26, 2023.  Beginning October 27, 2023, automatic extensions based on timely filed applications to renew employment authorization and/or employment authorization documents are subject to the original 180-day period for eligible applicants.  USCIS will not apply this change retroactively and will honor all prior automatic extensions of up to 540 days.  More information about this change can be found here.   GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Afghan Asylum Project We have recently started matching attorneys to work on Afghan asylum cases through the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV).  AALV are still in need of more pro bono attorneys to assist them with additional Afghan asylum cases.  AALV staff would be on-hand to mentor pro bono attorneys, including by answering questions and reviewing drafts.  Please email us if you are interested in assisting with one of these cases.   Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that will help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP MEET OUR BOARD Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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October 2023

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View this email in your browser PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Last week was National Pro Bono Week, which is an opportunity to highlight the increasing need of pro bono services nationally and celebrate the lawyers, paralegals, and law students around the country who volunteer their time to provide legal services to those who cannot afford a lawyer.  VAAP is only able to provide pro bono services to asylum seekers in Vermont because of the many attorneys and legal professionals who volunteer their time with us.  We recognize and thank all of our pro bono attorneys for the immense impact they are making in the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. Keep reading below for additional news and trainings for pro bono attorneys! PRO BONO NEWS Updates to USCIS Change of Address Tool On October 12th, USCIS announced the launch of a new Enterprise Change of Address (E-COA) self-service tool.  This tool allows applicants with pending applications, petitions, or requests to update their address with USCIS more easily and allows USCIS to more efficiently process these changes. To use the E-COA tool, the applicant must change their address through the online USCIS portal. More information about this change can be found here.   GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Afghan Asylum Project We have recently matched two attorneys to work on Afghan asylum cases through the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV).  AALV are still in need of more pro bono attorneys to assist them with additional Afghan asylum cases.  AALV staff would be on-hand to mentor pro bono attorneys, including by answering questions and reviewing drafts.  Please email us if you are interested in assisting with one of these cases.   Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that will help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP MEET OUR BOARD Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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September 2023

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View this email in your browser PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER August 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Happy fall!  We hope you have had a chance to check out our new website, where you can learn more about our work, ways to volunteer, and legal resources on asylum.  Keep reading below for additional news and trainings for pro bono attorneys. PRO BONO NEWS AND TRAININGS Updates to Employment Authorization Document Renewal Periods Last week, USCIS announced that several changes will be made to the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) process that will expedite processing times and alleviate the need for applicants to frequently apply for renewals.  Beginning October 1, 2023, certain applicants will be issued EADs for five-year periods instead of the current two-year period. This change is in effect for asylees, refugees, asylum seekers, receipts of withholding of removal, adjustment of status applicants, and individuals who received a cancellation of removal.  Also starting on that date, USCIS will begin expediting EAD applications for individuals paroled in after scheduling an appointment with the CBP One application.  You can read more about these changes here. Upcoming Trainings The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) is holding a two-part webinar series on representing asylees and refugees.  You can find out more and register for the event here.  GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Afghan Asylum Project We are seeking pro bono attorneys to assist the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) with Afghan asylum cases.   AALV staff would be on-hand to mentor pro bono attorneys, including by answering questions and reviewing drafts.  Please email us if you are interested in assisting with one of these cases.   Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to those to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that would help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP MEET OUR BOARD Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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August 2023

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View this email in your browser PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER August 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Dear all: We hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of summer! We are excited to announce that we recently launched a new website.  Please visit the site to learn more about our work, ways to volunteer, and legal resources on asylum. See below for additional pro bono news and updates on available cases for attorneys. PRO BONO NEWS USCIS Online Request System On August 21st, USCIS launched a new online appointment request page.  This website can be used by both individuals and attorneys to schedule an in-person appointment with USCIS online instead of calling a USCIS Contact Center.  You can request an online appointment here.     GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email info@vaapvt.org if you or your firm would like more information about that process! Afghan Asylum Project We are seeking pro bono attorneys to assist the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) with two Afghan asylum cases.  Attorneys at AALV have already started preparing these cases and it is anticipated that each case will require approximately 20 hours of work.  AALV staff would be on-hand to mentor pro bono attorneys, including by answering questions and reviewing drafts.  Please email us if you are interested in assisting with one of these cases.   Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to those to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us at info@vaapvt.org to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that would help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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July 2023

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View this email in your browser MONTHLY NEWSLETTER July 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Our thoughts are with those who have been impacted by the devastating flooding in Vermont over the past two weeks.  As Vermonters band together in recovery and relief efforts, we wanted to highlight a way to support Vermont's refugee and immigrant communities through the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) initiative, New Farms for New Americans.  Beginning this fall we will also be launching a project to assist AALV with providing certain pro bono immigration legal services for Afghan nationals in Vermont.  See below to learn more about how to get involved with VAAP's Afghan Project. We are also thrilled to share that another pro bono attorney volunteering with VAAP recently submitted an asylum seeker's I-589 (asylum) application.  We are so grateful for all the hard work that went into this application process. Finally, we'd also like to welcome VAAP's co-founder, Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, to the Board!  PRO BONO NEWS AND TRAINING Beginning July 31, 2023, USCIS will only accept the 03/01/23 edition of the Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, which is available here.  If you are assisting with an I-589 application, we encourage you to confirm that you are using the correct edition date before submission. We also wanted to share a training opportunity on August 3rd for pro bono attorneys entitled "Form I-589; Tips for Preparing An Asylum Application, provided by the Immigrant Justice Campaign.  You can register for the webinar here. GET INVOLVED Volunteer Opportunities We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance.  Please email info@vaapvt.org if you or your firm would like more information about that process! We also have upcoming opportunities for pro bono attorneys to assist Afghan nationals with seeking asylum and to volunteer at walk-in legal clinics to prepare and file other applications with USCIS.  If you are interested in volunteering for our Afghan Project, please complete the following survey. Seeking Board Members! VAAP is looking for dynamic Board members to help us grow our organization.  We seek individuals who are committed to our mission and encourage members of the communities we serve to apply.  Special consideration will be given to those to anyone with an interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, legal, or financial backgrounds.  Please contact us at info@vaapvt.org to learn more. Financial Contributions VAAP is building a budget that would help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (she/they) has a PhD in Latin American Studies, and spent ten years teaching college prior to directing the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro. In that role Kate learned firsthand the transformative power of legal representation for asylum seekers, and worked with CASP to co-found the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project with Rebecca Wasserman. Kate now directs the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, a Burlington-based nonprofit working to ensure the human rights of Vermont's dairy workers. Kate has worked as a researcher and a solidarity activist with social movement organizers in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish, occasionally helping VAAP with interpretation and translation needs.   Our mailing address is: 50 Lakeside Avenue, Unit 118-H25 Burlington, VT 05401 Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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June 2023

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View this email in your browser MONTHLY NEWSLETTER June 2023 UPDATES FROM OUR TEAM Dear all, We know it has been a couple of months since we have sent out our last newsletter but we have been busy behind the scenes streamlining our volunteer process, planning several projects, and forging new partnerships.  We hope to share these initiatives next month!  In the meantime, we continue to be excited about the work we are doing.  Since March, we have made a new pro bono attorney and asylum seeker match and received news that one of our pro bono attorney teams completed the submission of an I-589 for an asylum seeker. The VAAP Board also had its first meeting at the end of April and is actively recruiting for additional members. See below for additional news and to learn more about ways to get involved with VAAP! PRO BONO NEWS Title 42 Restrictions Following the end of Title 42, the Administration is putting in place new restrictions at the southern border that will continue to impact a person's ability to seek asylum. These restrictions include new bars to asylum that create obstacles for asylum seekers to exercise their legal right to claim asylum. On May 11th the Biden Administration lifted Title 42, the pandemic-era public health measure that immigration authorities used to manage and deter asylum seekers and other migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. VAAP is committed to supporting the legal right of asylum seekers to gain protection in the United States, regardless of how they enter the country. We encourage you to read more about these restrictions here. Afghan Re-Parole Process On June 8th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opened a process for eligible Afghan Nationals who arrived under humanitarian parole through the Operation Allies Welcome to request a new period of parole so they can continue to live and work legally in the United States.  Under the law, parole requests are considered on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons and significant public benefit.  Importantly, Afghan parolees who apply for asylum or for adjustment to lawful permanent resident prior to the expiration of their initial parole period do not need to submit an application for re-parole, as DHS will consider for an extension of their original parole period on a case-by-case basis. Stay tuned to learn more about our plans to support Afghans in Vermont. GET INVOLVED We continue to actively match new pro bono attorneys with experienced mentors to work on asylum cases with clients in need of legal assistance. Please email vaap@caspvt.org if you or your firm would like more information about that process! We would also like to hear from you if you are interested in joining our Board. VAAP is building a budget that would help us support a full-time director to fully resource pro bono asylum attorneys in the State. If you would like to support this growing project, please donate here. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! - THE VAAP TEAM Donate to VAAP Erin Jacobsen (she/her), Chair of the Board is an Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Vermont Attorney General and Co-Director of the office’s Community Justice Division, which seeks to improve equity, public safety, and fairness in all aspects of the criminal legal system. She was previously a Professor of Law and Director of the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the Senior Staff Attorney at Vermont Immigrant Assistance project, where she supervised student clinicians on humanitarian immigration cases and taught Immigration Law and Legislation & Regulation in the classroom. Caitlin Jenness (she/her), Treasurer lives with her husband Miles on a small homestead in Huntington, VT. In 2013, Caitlin earned her M.B.A from Antioch University in Sustainable Business Management, and has spent the last 10 years working in financial leadership of multiple mission-driven entrepreneurial businesses across Vermont. She is excited to bring her affinity for spreadsheets, budgets and financial planning to the organizational efforts of the VAAP team. Faith Orr (she/her), Secretary is a first-year law student at Vermont Law and Graduate School. She graduated from Concordia University in Montréal in 2015, specializing in French-to-English translation and worked as a French-to-English translator and legal assistant. Faith has experienced her own immigration challenges, and finally became a Canadian permanent resident last year. She moved back to Vermont during COVID-19 to continue her studies and help to better the lives of asylum seekers in Vermont. She plans to practice immigration law after passing the bar. Copyright © 2023, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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February 2023

January 2023