The U.S. immigration system is complex and can be difficult to understand. At this session, experienced immigration attorneys will provide a high-level explanation of the limited pathways that allow someone to obtain permanent immigration status. The speakers will also discuss the demographic make-up of the immigrant population in Greater Houston. Through an interactive exercise, participants will apply the knowledge to find possible pathway to permanent immigration status for the hypothetical family.
Lunch will be provided.
Learning Objective(s)
Understanding the basic framework of the U.S. immigration system.
Get an overview of the make-up of the immigrant population in Greater Houston.
Using a hypothetical to explore pathways to permanent immigration system.
Target Audience
Interns, new staff, case managers, and community organizations will get a deeper knowledge about the intersection of immigration status and access to benefits and services from this training.
Attendance required for Connect for Healthcare Network and Pathways to Citizenship Cohort.
This training is curated in partnership with the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative.
ZENOBIA LAI
As the Executive Director of HILSC, Zenobia leads the strategic vision of the Collaborative through facilitating meaningful collaboration among members, amplifying funding available to member organizations and leading grant-making processes, implementing creative solutions to issues affecting Houston’s immigration legal services providers, and building strategic partnerships.
Zenobia is a seasoned civil legal services lawyer who has worked with low-income immigrant communities throughout the country. She has centered her career on making legal services available to those who lack financial resources, political power, English proficiency, or knowledge of the American legal system. Zenobia helped coin the term “community lawyering,” leveraging resources from private law firms and other professionals to help low-income communities make systemic changes. She is both a practitioner and an educator, helping design training curricula, train trainers, conduct numerous lawyering skill trainings to the legal services community, as well as preparing aspiring law students and human services professionals for career growth. Prior to her legal career, Zenobia was a broadcast journalist in Hong Kong. She also helped run a Cantonese cable television show for more than two decades in Malden, Massachusetts.
VICKIE GIAMBRA
Vickie Giambra is the Legal and Advocacy Director of HILSC. She has been practicing immigration law since 2009. Previously in private practice working on a variety of matters, Vickie began her nonprofit immigration law career when she joined Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in January 2017. As a Managing Attorney, she led the General Immigration Program at Catholic Charities, which encompassed family immigration matters and provided a full range of immigration services for refugees and asylees. With a B.A., cum laude, in Latin American Studies from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, Vickie began her career working in HR and recruitment for a large international law firm in New York and London. This sparked an interest in employment and immigration law, which led Vickie to enroll in the University of Houston Law Center, graduating in May 2009. She is a member of the Texas Bar and is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach.