For those working in social, medical, mental health, and legal services, understanding how immigration impacts our clients is imperative. Ten percent of Coloradans and 12% of Denver-metro residents are immigrants. Nearly 175,000 (25%) children in Denver and 276,000 (20%) children in Colorado have at least one parent who is an immigrant. 329,000 residents of Colorado are at risk of detention and deportation.
Please join the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) in a discussion about introductory immigration law as it applies to our patients and clients, how immigration status impacts benefit eligibility, and best practices when working with immigrant and refugee clients and patients. RMIAN is a Colorado-based non-profit that provides free integrated legal and social services to immigrants and refugees facing detention and/or deportation. They are a leader in the region and are nationally renown for their expertise in immigration legal defense for adults, families and children, as well as advocacy, trauma-informed mental health and social service provision for immigrants.
Goals for this workshop are:
• To learn the basics of immigration law in order to advocate for your clients/patients and direct them to appropriate services
• To understand the compound impacts of individual trauma, forced migration, US racism oppression, and limited service access on immigrant clients
• To implement best practices for working with immigrants and refugees
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Presenters
Cindy Schlosser Cindy joined RMIAN as the Detention Program Social Worker in October 2018. She began her professional career as a high school Spanish and history teacher, working with youth in an alternative learning program. In 2005, Cindy volunteered full-time at the St. Mary’s Health Clinics in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN as a community health educator and interpreter. She moved to El Paso, TX, in 2006 where she volunteered and led educational border trips with Annunciation House, a shelter for recently arrived migrants. From 2009-2015, she served as the Social Services Coordinator and legal assistant at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona. During her time at the Florence Project, she spearheaded the expansion of the social services program, and collaborated with community partners to establish detention visitation, letter-writing, and housing networks. She also contributed to the publication, “What if I’m picked up by ICE in Arizona?: Making a Family Plan”, a guide for immigrant parents navigating the child welfare and immigration systems. She holds an undergraduate degree in high school history and Spanish education and a Master’s degree in Social Work from Arizona State University. In addition to feeling honored to work alongside courageous and wise clients and colleagues, Cindy loves climbing, cooking and gardening, creating playful and meaningful community, and having dance parties with her child and husband. s.
Jenny Regier, Esq. Jenny is an Equal Justice Works fellow sponsored by Pfizer Inc. She joined RMIAN in September 2020. Jenny provides direct representation and coordinates a medical-legal partnership to improve health and legal outcomes for medically vulnerable women and gender minorities in immigration detention. Jenny was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship at the University of Denver (DU) Sturm College of Law. She graduated in May 2020 with the Kenneth L. Smith Award. During law school, Jenny advocated for clients through the DU Immigration Law and Policy Clinic and with immigration legal services and civil rights organizations in the Denver area, including the Meyer Law Office, Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, the Migrant Farm Worker Division of Colorado Legal Service, and RMIAN. Before law school, Jenny worked to provide immigration legal assistance to unaccompanied children on the Texas-Mexico border as an accredited representative with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR). She also had the privilege of living in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, Bolivia for three years while working for a nonprofit organization. Jenny is originally from Newton, Kansas.
Eligible for three hours Certificate of Completion
