Attorneys across the firm continue to work with community partners to represent individuals with immigration claims as they seek to establish safe and stable lives in the United States.
In partnership with Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors and the Vanderbilt Law School Immigration Practice Clinic, the firm has hosted two continuing legal education programs on asylum for lawyers across Tennessee with a particular focus on recent arrivals from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Haiti. Bass, Berry & Sims pro bono attorneys are filing petitions for asylum for Afghan family groups resettling in Middle Tennessee.
Immigration hearings suspended during the pandemic are being rescheduled and pro bono attorneys in Nashville and Memphis are actively working for clients. Several clients have had petitions pending since the Morristown raid in April 2018. The government recently agreed not to move forward with deportation of one client, a single mother who has lived in U.S. for 30 years, working full time to support her three children. A second case is scheduled for hearing in January 2023, seeking Adjustment of Status for a single mother of four children who has lived and worked in the U.S. since 1999. Other cases arising out of the Morristown raid are scheduled for hearing later in 2023.
Additionally, attorneys are working on an asylum petition for a client referred to the firm by Immigration Equality, helping the client keep her employment status and driver’s license current as she awaits an interview.