Senior Paralegal, Children's Program

Amica Center for Immigrant Rights•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is now Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (“Amica Center” for short). Since its founding in 1999, Amica Center has grown significantly and added new services to support immigrants in detention. Amica Center is the only non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. area that is exclusively focused on providing legal assistance to adult and child immigrants detained by the government in the Capital Region and beyond. The Children’s Program (DUCs) provides legal orientation and screening to detained migrant children in the Maryland and Virginia region. It also offers free legal services to children released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody to the greater Washington/DC Baltimore region. DUCs is a highly collaborative work environment committed to providing high-quality, trauma-informed legal and social services and a culture of professional growth and support for staff. Supervisors in our program share a commitment to teaching, mentorship, and work-life balance.

Requirements

Written and oral Spanish fluency
2-3 years of relevant experience in immigration legal service provision.
2-3 years of relevant experience interviewing / working with clients, preferably children.
Driver’s license
Favorable results on background check including driving record, Child Protection Registry, and state and federal criminal records
Demonstrates a firm understanding of children’s removal proceedings, relief eligibility, and culturally competent legal services.
Plays an active role in client relationships and can independently advance work on cases with attorney approval and supervision.
Demonstrates understanding of legal information versus legal advice and educates others on appropriate limitations for non-attorney staff.
Familiar with preparing client filings and can do so with limited or minimal attorney supervision and review.
Skillfully and clearly present legal information and know your rights presentations to detained children and clients with limited supervision.
Has, and continually improves upon, trauma-informed interviewing and rapport-building skills.
Effectively manages time and resources and appropriately prioritizes client needs and other program responsibilities.
Ensures that all administrative aspects of their position are carried out with limited supervisory support, including facility visit preparation and breakdown, file and database upkeep, etc.
Contributes to updates and adjustments, as needed, to administrative systems designed to support shelter and client work.

Nice To Haves

Management or supervision experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Supervises and participates in preparation and breakdown of detention facility visits, as needed.
Conducts detention facility visits in Virginia and Maryland, for the provision of know your rights presentations, intakes, and follow-up conversations with immigrant children.
Ensures that junior staff complete all shelter-involved tasks to a high standard.
Demonstrates advanced understanding of common immigration relief eligibility and provides high-quality input during internal case reviews.
Performs and can train other staff on performing administrative tasks, including database maintenance and reporting to funders.
Supports attorneys representing detained and released clients before USCIS, Baltimore, Arlington, and Hyattsville Immigration Courts, and local state courts in Maryland, DC, and Virginia.
This includes representation in the following types of cases: Asylum, Withholding of Removal, Protection under the Convention against Torture, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U-Visas and T-Visas, in addition to limited social services assistance.
Actively engages in Amica Center’s training efforts of new staff and interns, as needed.
Ensures the timely and accurate entry of case information into shared databases.
Troubleshoots data management system problems.
Assists program leadership in planning and implementation of program goals.
Assists other program staff in completion of their workload during high-work/low-bandwidth periods.
Leads projects to improve systems or client services.
Actively participates and contributes to stakeholder relationship activities.
Engages with internal Amica Center committees and working groups to lend a voice to the growth and strategy of the organization.

Benefits

Free gym access located in Washington, D.C or Baltimore, MD (dependent on employee’s primary office)
Flexible working hours after successful completion of trainings and with approval of supervisor
Pre-tax commuter benefits for those living in the DMV
Subsidized health, dental insurance, and vision insurance (Amica Center pays a very high rate of the insurance package, for which we can provide additional information)
Life Insurance valued at $50,000, as well as long- and short-term disability
The option to set up a Flexible Spending Account
High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with a one-time employer contribution of $350 to the Health Savings Account (HSA)
The option to set up a 403(b) account (the equivalent of a 401(k) account for non-profits) which the organization has the option, for all employees on an annual basis, to match at a certain percentage after one year of continuous employment
Paid time off includes: 23 personal days per calendar year
Up to 20 days of sick time per calendar year
7 hours of volunteer time off
Federal holidays
Paid winter break closure
12 weeks of parental leave