Staff Attorney, Immigration

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and our goal is to reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in foster care. CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense to parents charged by ACS with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience losing children to foster care and safely reunifying their families. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams. In 2015, CFR expanded its practice to provide legal and social work services to parents in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters.

Almost a third of the clients CFR represents are immigrants and to defend them and their families, our Immigration team offers them specialized attorney, social work and paralegal assistance. When the city charges non-citizen parents with neglect, or initiates an investigation against them, or when the city files delinquency petitions against non-citizen youth, those clients’ defense teams will refer them to the immigration practice. We represent these non-citizen CFR clients and their families in removal proceedings, provide Padilla advisals to their family and criminal defense attorneys and assist them in applying for affirmative immigration benefits. We also advocate for clients at ICE check-ins, collaborate with other stakeholders to identify systemic issues, provide agency-wide and community training and file petitions in federal court when necessary. Finally, we are anticipating expanding the scope of our representation to parents of unaccompanied non-citizen minors who are in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

To find out more about CFR’s work, please visit our website and Youtube page.

Job Description

Under the supervision and guidance of CFR’s Senior Immigration Attorney, the Immigration Staff Attorney’s primary responsibility will be to represent clients in removal proceedings in Immigration Court and in other administrative and judicial bodies, assist clients in applying for affirmative relief and other immigration benefits with USCIS and provide Padilla consults to CFR’s criminal, family defense, and youth defense practice. The staff attorney should expect to work with clients from all of the boroughs serviced by CFR. In addition to the above, the staff attorney is expected to represent some number of parents trying to reunify with their unaccompanied non-citizen minor children who are in federal detention with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”).

The candidate will work collaboratively with CFR legal teams, composed of attorneys, social work staff, paralegals and parent advocates from the Family Defense, Criminal Defense or Civil Defense units. Familiarity with our most commonly occurring immigration case types is preferable, e.g. asylum, SIJS, domestic-violence-based relief, family-based applications, adjustment of status and naturalization. The immigration candidate may also represent CFR in local, state, and national coalitions, trainings, and conferences. Over the years, CFR Immigration has had to respond to unexpected immigration crises and other client needs. The ideal candidate will be open to helping with special projects as needed.

The candidate should expect to:

• Represent existing CFR clients in affirmative, defensive and appellate immigration matters and federal litigation;
• Represent a select number of parents of unaccompanied non-citizen children who are in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement;
• Support CFR Immigration’s intake/referral teams as needed;
• Provide Padilla and other advisals to CFR’s criminal and family defense practices about the immigration consequences of each proceeding;
• Stay abreast of rapidly changing immigration rules, laws, pending legislation, and procedures;
• Represent CFR clients with SIJS applications in Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Bronx Family Courts;
• Conduct community education, training and outreach, and promote the work of CFR and CFR Immigration;
• Assist with training and mentoring of law students, volunteers, and pro bono attorneys/scholars;
• Promptly maintain data in our case management system and client legal notes; and
• Assist with the continued growth and improvement of CFR’s immigration practice.

Salary Range:

$88,800 (2 years of experience) - $112,400 (12 years of experience)

• Based on relevant experience gained post JD graduation

Qualifications

Candidates for this position should have at least 2-4 years of experience as an attorney, including law school clinics, that includes directly representing clients in all aspects of USCIS and immigration court proceedings. Familiarity with the intersection of immigration with other legal issues is especially helpful, i.e., criminal, family, and public benefits. This is the ideal position for someone who is committed to zealously defending the rights of non-citizen parents against family separation, detention and deportation.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, an ability to work as part of a team and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor. Proficiency in Spanish or French is required.

How to Apply

Candidates should submit their resume, cover letter answering the below writing prompt (yes, we do actually read them) and references through CFR’s Career Portal.

In lieu of a cover letter please submit a statement of approximately 250 words explaining why you are interested in defending immigrant parents

CFR offers a generous compensation package, including a competitive base salary as well as health, 403(b) and vacation benefits. The salary, benefits, and employment policies relevant to this position are governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between CFR and the CFR Union, part of ALAA (Association of Legal Aid Attorneys) UAW 2325.

CFR strives to create an inclusive and antiracist environment for all of its staff, and candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply; CFR is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

403b, Generous PTO, sick time and holidays.

Spanish and/or French proficiency preferred