This webinar will discuss current practice for filing waivers for clients with unlawful presence. Aside from an overview of how to present a case based on hardship, we will cover the I-601A process, including latest policy developments focused on adjudicating cases with crimes and standardizing the hardship assessment. Additionally, we will discuss the traditional I-601 waiver and when this waiver must be used instead of the provisional process.

Presenter: Erin Quinn, ILRC Staff Attorney

Erin brings to ILRC over 8 years of experience as an immigration defense attorney and holds a joint degree in law and public policy (JD/MPP) from the University of Michigan. Prior to opening her own practice in 2007, Ms. Quinn represented immigrants as an associate at the Law Office of Robert B. Jobe. Her experience in immigration law and policy includes working as a fellow for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, EU headquarters in Belgium; clerking for the Immigration Court of San Francisco; and guest lecturer at CSU Eastbay. Originally from Fresno, California, Erin loves language and travel. She lived in Romania for over two years as a Peace Corps volunteer and worked in Hungary as a teacher trainer. In addition she has traveled, studied and taught in Central America, South Africa and Europe. Erin is on the Advisory Council for the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), in which she serves as Pro Bono Coordinator, and is a member of the California Bar.


Moderator: Lourdes Martinez, ILRC Staff Attorney

Lourdes, an immigrant herself, spent her childhood in central Mexico before moving with her family to the United States. Before joining ILRC, she worked as an immigration attorney at the Tahirih Justice Center in the DC metropolitan area, where she represented immigrant women and girls survivors of gender-based violence on immigration matters. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Rice University and her Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, where she was awarded the JB & Maurice Shapiro Public Service Fellowship for her dedication to public interest law. While in law school, she worked on international human rights litigation involving cases from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean both, with the International Human Rights Clinic at GWU and as a law clerk with the Center for Justice and International Law in San Jose, Costa Rica. She also worked with the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, providing legal services and Know Your Rights presentations for immigrant detainees in Virginia. Finally, she spent a year with the Public Defender Service of Washington, DC, directly representing criminal defendants before the U.S. Parole Commission and drafting briefs for criminal court. Lourdes began her career in immigration law as a paralegal at Tindall & Foster, PC in Houston, Texas. She is fluent in Spanish and French.