Stiches or Surgery? What Will it Take to Fix Our Broken Immigration System? September 3, 2015 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Moderator: Name: Arnulfo D. Hernandez, Esq. Title: HNBA Immigration Section Chair Employer: Hernandez Law Firm Email: [email protected] Panelists: Name: Director Sarah Saldaña Title: Director, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement Employer: Email: Assistant to Director: Staci Leake - [email protected] Name: Professor Jennifer Chacon Title: Professor of Law Employer: University of California, Irvine, School of Law (Visiting Professor at Stanford University) Email: [email protected] Name: Rachel Velasquez - Title: 2L – Vanderbilt University Law School Employer Email: [email protected] Name: Penni P. Bradshaw, Esq. Title: Partner – Immigration Practice Group Chair Employer: Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophet, LLP Email: [email protected] Name: Flor Bermudez, Title: Detention Project Director Employer – Transgender Law Center Email: [email protected] Arnulfo D. Hernández HERNANDEZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 1490 Lafayette Street, Suite 307 Denver, Colorado 80218 (303) 623-1122 | http://www.hdezlaw.com Arnulfo D. Hernández, Esq., As a managing partner at Hernandez & Associates, P.C., in Denver, Colorado, Arnulfo D. Hernandez concentrates his practice on immigration law and criminal defense litigation, particularly cases in which both practice areas intersect. Fluent in Spanish, Arnulfo represents immigrants and their families in the Denver metropolitan area before federal and state courts as well as federal agencies such as the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Executive Office for Immigration Review and numerous consulates around the world. He is also admitted to practice before multiple federal appellate courts, the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. After attending the Universidad Del Noreste, A.C, in Tampico, Mexico, in 1997, Arnulfo earned his undergraduate degree with dean's list honors from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, in 2001, majoring in both political science and psychology. He earned his Juris Doctor from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver in 2005. Two years later, he obtained his Master of Laws in taxation from the same institution. Arnulfo began his legal career as a clerk for the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Guanajuato in Mexico before clerking for the Foreign Prosecutions Unit at the Colorado State Attorney General's office. He then worked as an associate attorney at the Law Firm of Joseph C. Cohen, P.C., from 2005 to 2007, after which he founded Hernandez & Associates, P.C. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, for which he serves on the board of directors. A distinguished member of the Robert C. Rhone-Ava M. Brackett American Inn of Court, Arnulfo has an extensive record of pro bono work that includes working with two regional legal clinics since 2005. EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF DENVER | STURM COLLEGE OF LAW & DANIELS COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, Denver, Colorado LL.M., May 2007 UNIVERSITY OF DENVER | STURM COLLEGE OF LAW, Denver, Colorado Juris Doctor, May 2005 UNIVERSIDAD DE GUANAJUATO, Guanajuato, México | Legal Externship Program 2003 UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD, San Antonio, Texas Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Cum Laude, May 2001 Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Cum Laude, May 2001 UNIVERSIDAD DEL NORESTE, Tampico, Tamaulipas, México General Latin American Studies, 1995-1997 BAR ADMISSIONS State Courts of Colorado United States District Court for the State of Colorado United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals United States Tax Court Executive Office of Immigration Review PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section | Immigration Committee Faculty of Federal Advocates National Hispanic Bar Association 2014-2015 Chair, Immigration Section Colorado Bar Association CBA Immigration Law | Section Member CBA Criminal Law | Section Member CBA Taxation Law | Section Member Denver Bar Association National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild American Immigration Lawyers Association Colorado Chapter of AILA | Section Member National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Life Member Colorado Hispanic Bar Association Member 2013-2014 Elected Board Member 2013-2014 Chair, Education Committee 2014-2015 Chair, Nominations and Endorsement Committee 2015 President Elect Rhone-Brackett Chapter of the American Inns of Court EXPERIENCE HERNANDEZ & ASSOCIATES, P.C. | Managing Partner Law firm specializes in Immigration & Naturalization Law and Criminal Defense. Represent clients from over 30 countries in 10 states. Removal based immigration related litigation experience before Colorado District Federal Court, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the 9th & 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Wide ranging federal and state criminal defense litigation experience from low level misdemeanors to multiple felony indictments. COHEN LAW FIRM, P.C. | Associate Attorney Law firm specialized in civil litigation and employment law. Litigated cases involving injury law, contractual disputes, wrongful termination actions as well as wills & estates challenges. FOREIGN PROSECUTIONS UNIT | Attorney General’s Office of Colorado Prepared and filed criminal cases, in Spanish, for México’s Federal Criminal Tribunal for prosecution. Case load involved foreign born Colorado murder fugitives evading justice in México. Drafted and edited the Article IV Foreign Prosecutions Manual for the State of Colorado. Publication distributed statewide to law enforcement agencies. CLERKSHIP | Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Guanajuato Prepared both criminal and civil legal briefs, in Spanish, which were submitted to the proper fact finding tribunal for adjudication before a trier of fact. Prepared discovery by composing interrogatories and requesting production of documents. Managed and prepared cases set for litigation. BIOGRAPHY Sarah R. Saldaña Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement As ICE’s Director, Sarah R. Saldaña leads the largest investigative agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Created in 2003, ICE has a budget of approximately $6 billion and has nearly 20,000 employees in 400 offices in all 50 states and 48 countries. In this role, Director Saldaña advances ICE’s mission to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of approximately 400 federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration. Previously, Director Saldaña served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. In that position, she led a staff of more than 200 employees, including approximately 100 attorneys. Prior to that, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, where she prosecuted a variety of criminal cases, including bank and mortgage fraud, civil rights, human trafficking and public corruption. She also served as the Deputy Criminal Chief in charge of the District’s Major Fraud and Public Corruption section. Before joining the Department of Justice, she worked in private practice and at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Labor. Director Saldaña graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas A&I University and earned her J.D. degree from Southern Methodist University. Director Saldaña is the recipient of several meritorious awards, including Latina Attorney of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association and SMU Dedman School of Law’s Distinguished Spanish Alumni Award. In September 2011, Director Saldaña became Texas’s first Latina chief prosecutor. Director Saldaña also holds the distinction of being the first Latina appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ICE’s Director. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of three integrated divisions that form a 21st. century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit: www.ICE.gov. Current as of 12/23/2014 Jennifer M. Chacón holds a J.D. from Yale Law School (1998) and an A.B. in International Relations from Stanford University (1994). She is a Professor in the School of Law at the University of California, Irvine, where she is also the former Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. She is currently a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and has previously served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is the author of more than 30 law review articles, book chapters, expert commentaries and shorter articles and essays discussing immigration, criminal law, constitutional law and citizenship issues. Professor Chacón has served on the Nominations Committee of the Law and Society Association and chaired the 2014 Immigration Law Professors Workshop Planning Committee. She is admitted to practice in New York and is a member of the New York City Bar Association, where she has served on the Committee on State Affairs and contributed to projects undertaken by the Immigration and Nationality Law Committee. Professor Chacόn was an associate with the New York law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell from 1999-2003. She clerked for