You are cordially invited to attend a webinar on the impact of the expiration of the class-wide settlement in Perez-Olano v. Johnson on eligibility for Special Immigrant Juvenile classification and adjustment of status. The training will take place on September 19, 2016, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, pacific. Legal services providers and pro bono private practitioners who represent abused, abandoned and neglected immigrant and refugee youth are welcome to attend this training at no charge. The webinar will be presented by Kristen Jackson of Public Counsel and Carlos Holguín of the Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law, class counsel overseeing the Perez-Olano settlement. Federal law, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(27)(J) and 1255, provides a path for non-citizen youth who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected to attain lawful permanent residence in the United States. This benefit is known as Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status. In May 2010, a settlement was reached in the class action, Perez-Olano v. Johnson that expanded eligibility for the SIJ benefit is three ways:

•  Youth denied specific consent. The settlement provides that the federal government may not oblige a youth to obtain its “specific consent” to a state court’s exercising jurisdiction to issue SIJ predicate orders provided the state court does not attempt to determine his or her custody status or placement.
• SIJ eligibility “age-out.” The settlement prohibits CIS from denying SIJ applications on account of age, dependency status, or ineligibility for long-term foster care so long the applicant applies for SIJ status while he or she is still a dependent of a juvenile court or prior to turning 21.
• Youth ordered removed and denied adjudication of adjustment of status. The Settlement requires ICE to join motions to reopen removal proceedings filed by juveniles who have been granted SIJ status and are prima facie eligible to adjust their status, but who have been under order of removal for 90 days or more and would normally be barred from having an immigration judge adjudicate their adjustment applications. 

With important exceptions, the settlement will sunset on December 13, 2016. The training will explain the implications of the sunset date and offer practice pointers for advocates representing SIJ applicants in light of the settlement’s upcoming sunset. Attendance is limited to 50. Attorneys and paralegals affiliated with California Qualified Legal Services Programs will receive priority registration, with remaining slots allocated to other legal services and pro bono lawyers on a first-come, first-served basis. After you register you will receive instructions on how to join the webinar via email.Members of the California State Bar will receive one hour CA MCLE credit. If you are a member of another state bar, we will provide a Uniform Certificate of Attendance upon request. Please consult your state bar to determine whether it will grant credit for attending this webinar.

Registration:
To register, please email Chapman Noam at chapmannoam@centerforhumanrights.org. Please include the name of your legal services program. Questions may be directed to General Counsel Carlos Holguin, crholguin@centerforhumanrights.org or to Kristen Jackson, kjackson@publiccounsel.org.