Training Opportunity: Removal Defense for Community Defenders

Removal Defense for Community Defenders

May 15, 2025 through July 17, 2025

A 10-Week Course with Sessions Each Thursday, 12:00 PM PT to 1:30 PM PT | 3:00 PM ET to 4:30 PM ET

Zoom Meeting

(español abajo)

The National Immigration Project is pleased to offer for the second time a removal defense course for organizers who are engaged in removal defense work with an organization, coalition, or collective. We aim to train participants in removal defense practice so that they have a greater ability to collaborate with lawyers on cases and assist detained pro se community members, or themselves. The course will give participants a deeper understanding of immigration law and will also help them identify unknowns and where to look for more information. We will focus on achieving overall familiarity with the removal defense system and common forms of immigration relief, as well as on building writing skills for the kinds of writing most important for supporting community members in their removal defense proceedings: letters of support, declarations, and campaign materials.

In addition to class sessions, course attendees will have the opportunity to attend office hours with course instructors to ask questions and dive deeper into the material. All course attendees will also receive a complimentary National Immigration Project membership for their organization for one year.

The course will have a class structure, rather than a webinar, and we expect attendees to participate. In order to build trust and community within the cohort, classes will not be recorded, and attendance is very important; after all, cohort members will also learn from each other and benefit from each other’s questions and perspectives! However, course attendees will receive written materials, and, in the event of an immovable conflict, attendees are welcome to go over a session’s content in office hours.

There is a cap on the number of participants in order to maintain an environment that invites and enables participation. To apply, please fill out the application below by April 10, 2025. Up to one applicant from each organization that is a National Immigration Project member will be given priority. In the event we run out of space, we will maintain a waitlist.

We will inform applicants of their status by April 30, 2025.

Course Overview:

Each session will be 90-minutes long, from 12:00 PM PT to 1:30 PM PT // 3:00 PM ET to 4:30 PM ET

Session One - Mary 15, 2025 - Introduction: Avoiding Unauthorized Practice of Law & Immigration Court 101

Session Two - May 22, 2025 - Rapid Response Topics

Session Three - May 29, 2025 - Bond, Release Requests, and Post-Release Support

Session Four - June 5, 2025 - Writing Declarations & Letters of Support

Session Five - June 12, 2025 - Forms of Relief: Cancellation of Removal

Session Six - June 20, 2025 - Forms of Relief: Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and Convention Against Torture

Session Seven - June 26, 2025 - Filling Out Forms: I-589, EOIR-42B Cancellation, and Change of Venue and Address

Session Eight - July 3, 2025 - Forms of Relief: U-Visas & VAWA

Session Nine - July 10, 2025 - Post-Immigration Judge Decision: How to File an Appeal, Stays of Removal, and Post-Deportation

Session Ten - July 17, 2025 - Working with Media