PROGRAM OF THE 6TH VIRGINIA IMMIGRANT SUMMIT
Day 1 – Friday, September 25, 2015
10:00 a.m. Registration
10:30 – 10:45 a.m. Introduction
Welcome remarks from Rev. Linda Olson, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington.
Summit overview
• MC of the event: Beatriz Amberman, Founder and President of Hispanic Community Dialogue Organization.
10:45 – 12:00 a.m. Plenary Session: Becoming an Effective Advocate on Legislative and Policy Issues Confronting Immigrant Communities in Virginia
This plenary session will provide an overview of legislative and policy issues now confronting immigrant communities in Virginia including closing the coverage gap with Medicaid expansion and access to driver’s licenses for immigrants. Panelists will also discuss important tools and tactics for becoming an effective public policy advocate with elected representatives and other policy makers.
• Claire Guthrie Gastañaga – Executive Director, ACLU of Virginia.
• Massey Whorley – Senior Policy Analyst, The Commonwealth Institute
• Demas Boudreaux – Legislative Coordinator, Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO)
12:00 – 12:10 p.m. Who Is In The Room? – Meet and Greet
• Alice Foltz, President of Board of Directors of Centreville Immigration Forum
12:10 p.m.-1:15 p.m. Lunch and networking –
Dreamer Mothers In Action will share their experience about their 100-mile pilgrimage where the women travelled from an immigration detention center in York County, Pennsylvania to Washington, DC, timing their walk to coincide with the Pope’s visit.
1:15 p.m.-1:20 p.m. Transition to Breakout Sessions
1:20-2:20 p.m. (BREAK OUT SESSIONS)
Special Immigrant Juveniles: Best Practices for Family Law and Immigration Practitioners (CLE track):
With the recent surge of child refugees from Central America, Virginia ranks as the fifth-highest state in receiving unaccompanied immigrant children. Some of these children qualify for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS), an immigration status conferred by the federal government if the state court makes certain factual findings. This CLE program will provide attendees with an understanding of the provisions of state and federal law governing special immigrant juvenile status.
• Nicholas Marritz, Esq. Legal Aid Justice Center’s Unaccompanied Child Refugee Project
• Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Esq. Legal Director of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program
Virginia Immigrant Power 2015: Raising Your Voice Leading up to the 2015 Virginia State Elections
2015 is a critically important election year in Virginia that could impact the current political landscape of the General Assembly as well as decide important local races across the state. Although voter turnout is expected to be low, we can shake up the current political dynamics by increasing immigrant voter registration and turnout in races that will have an enormous impact on the development of policies and laws favoring immigrant communities. With anti-immigrant sentiment once again rising across the county, it is equally imperative that immigrant communities make their political voices heard to deter any backsliding of policies supporting immigrant communities as well as to encourage policy developments to help make Virginia a welcoming home for all of its residents.
• Dong Yoon Kim, Program Associate at the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
• Margie Del Castillo, Virginia Field Coordinator for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
• Julie Emery, Executive Director of the Virginia Civic Engagement Table
Advocating Against Immigration Detention
From 400,000 immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) each year, to recent spikes of media coverage on anti-immigrant sentiment; how can Virginia shift the narrative from detention to liberation? This workshop will expose for- profit detention activity in United States, highlight organizing strategies and outline counter tactics to face the new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment locally and nationally.
• H.E. Carlos Diaz-Legorreta, Youth Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations representing the Youth Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) both internationally and at UN headquarters in New York City.
• Hareth Andrade, founder of Dreamers of Virginia and co-founder of The Dream Project.
Language Access in Education for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students
The focus of this workshop will be on LEP students’ basic legal rights and practical issues that arise in schools for LEP students. This workshop will provide an overview of the education rights of immigrant students and their parents including the right to enrollment in school and a review of the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. It will also examine parents’ rights to interpretation and translation services when interacting with school officials as well as grade retention and promotion for LEP students. The workshop will also explore recent guidance for schools and families from the U.S. Department of Education on common challenges facing LEP students.
• Roger Rosenthal, Esq., Executive Director of the Migrant Legal Action Program (MLAP)
• Marcelo Quiñones, Attorney with the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education.
• Becky Wolozin, Equal Justice Works Fellow with Legal Aid Justice Center’s Just Children Program.
2:20 – 2:30 p.m. Transition to Breakout session.
2:30 – 3:40 p.m. (BREAK OUT SESSIONS)
Representing Non-Citizens with Criminal Charges in Virginia (CLE Track):
Noncitizens charged with a crime face a whole different set of concerns: not just possible fines or incarceration, but also possible deportation or ineligibility for future immigration benefits like DACA, green cards, or naturalization. Recent changes in ICE enforcement priorities have also increased the immigration consequences for common charges like DUI, in a way that simply reading the statutes would never reveal. This CLE will teach Virginia practitioners representing noncitizens charged with crimes how to avoid negative immigration consequences when structuring a plea or a trial strategy
• Lysandra Pachuta, Esq. Partner at the Law Firm Henson Pachuta & Kammerman, PLLC.
• Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Esq. Legal Director of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program
Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence and other Crimes (1)
Local experts will share resources of how to better work with immigrant victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. Jesenia Alonso from the Domestic Violence Action Center, Office for Women & Domestic and Sexual Violence Services in Fairfax County, and immigration attorneys from Just Neighbors (breakout session 1) and Tahirih Justice Center (breakout session 2), and will provide useful tips on how to help victims access the resources, rights, and benefits that are available for them to begin healing.
• Jesenia Alonso, Court Specialist at the Domestic Violence Action Center.
• Sarah Milad, Immigration Attorney, Just Neighbors
Dreamers and Higher Education
Join Mason DREAMers and Tech DREAMers in a presentation on undocumented students in higher education. We will provide an overview of who the students are and the current obstacles they face. Afterwards, we will discuss ways that institutions, faculty, and students are working to overcome the obstacles the undocumented community faces in accessing higher education. We will touch on activism and current coalition work being done across the state of Virginia.
• Rodrigo Velasquez, President of Mason Dreamers at George Mason University and currently a senior studying Communications.
• Juan de la Rosa Diaz, President and Founder of Tech DREAMers and currently a sophomore studying Political Science and Spanish at Virginia Tech..
Language Access in Education for LEP students (see the above description)
3:40 – 3:50 p.m. Transition to Breakout session.
3:50 – 4:50 p.m. BREAK OUT SESSIONS
Protecting the Right to Vote (CLE Track):
Although federal law protects the right of limited-English-proficient U.S. citizens to vote, these laws are often not followed, especially in state and local elections where each vote can make the difference. This CLE will review the laws around LEP voting rights, and discuss legal strategies for use before, during, and after Election Day to make sure that every person entitled to vote is allowed to cast a ballot regardless of their level of English proficiency.
• Jerry Vattamala, Director of the Democracy Program of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
• Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Esq. Legal Director of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program
Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence and other Crimes (2)
Local experts will share resources of how to better work with immigrant victims of domestic violence and other violence crimes. Jesenia Alonso from the Domestic Violence Action Center, Office for Women & Domestic and Sexual Violence Services in Fairfax County, and immigration attorneys from Just Neighbors (breakout session 2) and Tahirih Justice Center (breakout session 3), and will provide useful tips of how to help victims access the resources, rights, and benefits that are available for them to begin healing.
• Jesenia Alonso, Court Specialist at the Domestic Violence Action Center.
• Kate Finley, Immigration Attorney, Tahirih Justice Center
Advocating against Immigration Detention (see above description)
Dreamers and Higher Education (see above description)
4:50 – 5:00 p.m. Transition to Reception
5:00 pm. 7p.m. Reception: Honoring WALTER TEJADA, Arlington County Board Member in recognition of his outstanding service and dedication to the preservation and protection of the rights of the immigrant communities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Day 2 – Saturday, September 26, 2015
8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30 – 8:40 a.m. Overview of the day
Beatriz Amberman, Founder and President of Hispanic Community Dialogue Organization.
8:40 – 9:25 a.m. Plenary Strategy Session – Strategy for Closing the Coverage Gap – Medicaid expansion
• Demas Boudreaux – Legislative Coordinator, Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO)
9:25 – 10:10 a.m. Discussion on the Rise of Hate Speech and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment during this Election Season.
The 2016 Presidential race is now underway and once again immigration has become a hot political football resulting in rising public interest in this issue as well as an increase in anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric. We have seen this dynamic play out in previous years with anti-immigrant sentiment translating into anti-immigrant laws and policies. As such it is imperative for us to formulate a strategy to make sure our elected representatives know that Virginians will not tolerate a return to the era of anti-immigrant legislating as well as reassure or immigrant neighbors that Virginians stand with them as we work to counter anti-immigrant rhetoric and make Virginia a welcoming home for all.
• Dong Yoon Kim, Program Associate at the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, NAKASEC.
10:10 – 11:00 a.m. Plenary Strategy Session – Undocumented Students in Higher Education
Join Mason DREAMers and Tech DREAMers as we do a year in review and set goals for the 2015-16 school year. We will be discussing the work 5 organizations are doing, hope to do, and engage in a conversation about the future of undocumented students in higher education.
• Rodrigo Velasquez, President of Mason Dreamers and Senior George Mason University studying Communication.
• Juan de la Rosa Diaz, sophomore political science and Spanish major at Virginia Tech. President and founder of Tech DREAMers.
11:00- 11:50 a.m. Plenary Strategy Session – Driver’s license for aspiring Americans residing in Virginia (Drive Virginia Forward)
This session will discuss and develop a legislative and policy advocacy strategy to push for the provision of drivers licenses for aspiring Americans during upcoming Virginia General Assemblies including the identification of key Virginia residents to advocate for this issue during the 2016 Virginia General Assembly as well as how the 2015 statewide elections and 2016 state and national elections could impact passage of this issue. We will also discuss strategies for reaching out to Virginia’s residents to educate and create awareness about the urgency of providing driver licenses to aspiring Americans in Virginia including the link between immigrant access to drivers’ licenses and economic growth and safer roads.
• Edgar Aranda-Yanoc, chair of Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO)
• Melqui Fernandez, Northern Virginia Organizer, New Virginia Majority
• Théophé Love, J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, Fellow, Office of the Public Defender, Arlington County & the City of Falls Church
11:50 pm 12:00pm Next steps and closing
Organized by: American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU VA), Boat People SOS Inc, Centreville Immigration Forum, DREAMers’ Morthers in Action, Dreamers of Martinsville, Express Care, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, Just Neighbors, Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC)’s Immigrant Advocacy Program, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mason Dreamers, Multicultural Family and Education Center, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Sacred Heart Center , Social Action Linking Together (SALT), Shirlington Employment and Education Center (SEEC), Richmond Virginia Dreamers (RVA Dreamers), Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice In the National Capital Region, Virginia Interfaith for Public Policy, Virginia Organizing (VO), Virginia Latina Advocacy Network – National Latina Institute, Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR) , and Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO)
Special thanks to: Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UCCA)
Consumer Health Foundation
UFCW Local 400
Cornerstones
Legal Aid Aid Justice Center
VACOLAO
ACLU Virginia