Immigration Attorney

Overview

AROC seeks to hire a full-time immigration attorney to join our dynamic and dedicated legal program, San Francisco's first free immigration service program for the Arab community. The immigration attorney is expected to focus on providing high quality legal services to Arab and Muslim community members of the Bay Area. The immigration attorney will primarily work with AROC's legal team, engage with Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians (IJP) and support resource mobilization efforts as well as community education and organizing efforts. The position will be supervised by the Legal Director.

Who We Are

The Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Center, is a social justice organization serving poor and working class Arabs and Muslims across the San Francisco Bay Area, while organizing to overturn racism, forced migration, and militarism. Recognizing the diversity of experiences within our community, AROC utilizes a multi-pronged strategy providing a centralized space for social services meeting material needs, developing analysis, creating strategy, and leading grassroots campaigns for systemic changes that make tangible impacts in the lives of working class SWANA (South West Asia and and North African) communities.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a legal resource to clients and community members by educating and empowering immigrant community members regarding immigration laws, rights, and benefits
• Manage a high-volume caseload and maintain organized, accurate, complete, and confidential case files
• Provide immigration consultation, processing and representation services that may include eligibility evaluation, documentation preparation and collection, interview representation, and/or removal defense
• Prepare of a variety of family-based, naturalization and asylum applications
• Represent clients at USCIS and Asylum Office interviews, as well as master and merit hearings in Immigration Court
• Draft declarations and affidavits, prepare advocacy support letters, and occasionally, legal briefs, motions, court pleadings and appellate briefs
• Represent AROC in collaborative relationships, networks and other legal and organizing spaces with other nonprofits to strengthen coalitions and organizational alliances
• Participate in organization-wide, network, and collaborative events, forums, clinics etc
• Implement program goals and strategies in collaboration with the legal teams
• Participate in weekly check-in meetings with the organization, supervisor and specific teams; attend organization-wide retreats and annual fundraising events
• Support with supervising and training support staff and volunteers

The above statements are intended to provide a general framework of the requirements of the position and may not encompass all functions of the position. Consistent with our commitment to our community, AROC expects all staff to approach their positions with an understanding that our community's needs may demand adjustments to our work plans and responsibilities. To facilitate a healthy and robust work environment, AROC's leadership maintains open lines of communication to discuss changing community circumstances.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated commitment to social justice and serving marginalized communities, people of color, and/or immigrant communities
• J.D. and a member in good standing of any state bar (California preferred)
• Minimum of one-year legal experience, with a strong preference for two or more years of immigration experience
• Knowledge and understanding of immigration laws and processes relating to family-based petitions, adjustments of status, consular processing, asylum applications, and removal defense (preferred)
• Experience in organizing, political advocacy or activism (preferred)
• Proficiency in conversational Arabic (strongly preferred)

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit:

• a letter/email of interest
• resume
• writing sample/excerpt of no more than five (5) pages
• two (2) professional references

to jobs@araborganizing.org with a subject line of "Immigration Attorney Application"

Due Date

Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, and applications will beconsidered on a rolling basis

Start Date

As soon as possible

Compensation

The annual compensation depends on relevant experience and ranges from 93,000-97,000.

Benefits

Benefits include excellent medical, dental and disability, with other coverage programs as well as generous vacation and paid holidays