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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
- THE VAAP TEAM
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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