Immigrants’ Rights Staff Attorney, TakeRoot Justice

 

TakeRoot’s Immigrants’ Rights team works to protect individuals from detention and deportation, keep families together, and build power in immigrant communities. In addition to assisting with a wide range of immigration cases, we also support the development of immigrant community defense networks, legislative advocacy efforts, immigrant tenant’s rights organizing and the fight against immigration fraud.

 

Position:

TakeRoot Justice seeks applicants for the position of Staff Attorney to join our Immigrants’ Rights team. The Immigrants’ Rights team works to strengthen the organizing work of TakeRoot’s community-based partners by (1) providing legal clinics and direct immigration representation to members of partner group, (2) providing community education and strategy support in line with organizing goals.

Responsibilities:

  • Directly representing clients on a range of defensive and affirmative matters including SIJS, Asylum, VAWA, U/T visas, family-based petitions, SIJS and cancellation of removal, including representing individuals in immigration court, and family and federal district court;
  • Developing and conducting community education presentations for partner organizations and their members, including sometimes on evenings and weekends;
  • Supporting partner organizing groups’ members and campaigns through legislative advocacy, research, and action support; and
  • Participating in TakeRoot’s self-governance structure, including collective staff decision-making, participation in governance circles or working groups, and assistance with grant reporting.

Qualifications:

  • Be committed to economic and racial justice and the immigrant justice movement in New York City;
  • Be passionate about working in partnership with community organizers, and about developing creative lawyering strategies to support immigrant organizing;
  • Have a J.D. degree;
  • Be admitted to the bar of any state in the U.S., with a preference for New York ;
  • Have two to five years of immigration law or related experience (including pre-degree
  • experience);
  • Have fluency in a second language (Bengali, Haitian Creole, Nepali, or Spanish language strongly
  • preferred);
  • Have strong writing, analytical, and interpersonal skills;
  • Be self-directed and enthusiastic about boundary-pushing immigration advocacy.

How to Apply:

Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and writing sample by e-mail only (no hard copies please) with the subject line “Immigrants’ Rights Staff Attorney” to nqurashi@takerootjustice.org, Attn: Nadia Qurashi. Applications should be submitted by September 3, 2021 and will be considered on a rolling basis.