Paralegal- Intake-Focused, Detained Adult Program

The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is now Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (“Amica Center” for short). Click here to learn more about our new name. Since our founding in 1999, we have grown significantly and added new services to support immigrants in detention. Recently, Amica Center has outgrown our name, expanding beyond our initial services and geographic boundaries.

“Amica” is the Latin word for “friend,” and that echoes the way we approach what we do. Just as friends stand with one another, Amica Center stands with our clients to achieve the safety, stability, and opportunity we all deserve.

We are 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 Detained Adult Program (DAP) works with hundreds of adults who are detained by ICE each year, providing information, support, and legal representation. We provide trauma-sensitive, person-centered services, and deeply value the autonomy of the people we work with in detention as they navigate the fundamentally inhumane immigration system.

Amica Center’s Detained Adult Program is a highly collaborative work environment. Each team lead works directly with a focused team, but all colleagues are interconnected through, for example, case workshops or staff-run committees.

DAP staff is a source of expertise in the highly complex and ever-changing immigration system. They have persisted through administration changes, policy shifts, and attacks on the rights and freedoms of immigrants through project-focused cohorts that arise to address challenges or to brainstorm and implement affirmative strategies.

An intaking paralegal supporting direct representation work in the Detained Adult Program focuses on (i) organizing and conducting intakes with individuals in detention and tracking their cases through placement, providing basic pro se resources where placement with an attorney is not possible; (ii) liaising with other legal service providers, offices of the public defender, community groups, government officials, and detention centers to ensure eligible residents can connect to our services; (iii) working with detained people and their attorneys throughout the course of removal proceedings, including assisting with paperwork and case preparation; and (iv) supporting the program’s provision of services as a whole, including through administrative tasks such as database maintenance and reporting to funders.

Client Services:

• Completes intakes with people in detention and coordinates with other legal staff to ensure coverage of the same.
• Regularly communicates and collaborates with other legal service providers, community groups, government officials, and detention center staff to receive referrals of individuals eligible for services and maintain referral and legal access systems.
• Input information to track new potential cases and update direct representation pipelines.
• Provides follow up after intakes to evaluate eligibility for relief from removal, including legal research, securing criminal records and other coordination with public defenders, and obtaining additional information from family and other community members, and to provide basic pro se resources where placement for legal representation is not possible.
• Supports attorneys representing detained and released clients before immigration courts in Virginia, Maryland and remote locations (virtually), USCIS, ICE and local state courts. This includes representation in the following types of cases: Bond, Asylum, Withholding of Removal, Protection under the Convention Against Torture, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U-Visas, T-Visas, and Cancellation of Removal. Support includes assistance in developing client and witness declarations, coordination, drafting and preparing filings, country conditions research, and input in case strategy.
• Conducts detention facility visits in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, for intake and client meetings, and other regions as needed where people are detained.
• Assists with translation/interpretation work, group jail visits, and staffing of the detention hotline as needed.
• Carries out administrative tasks, including database maintenance and reporting to funders.
• Actively engages in CAIR Coalition’s training and advocacy efforts, as needed.
• Interfaces with social services staff, in preparation and execution of post release and social services plans.

Organizational Services:

• Ensures the timely inputting and accuracy of data and case information into shared databases.
• Assists other program staff in completion of their workload during high-work/low-bandwidth periods.
• Engages with internal CAIR Coalition committees and working groups to lend a voice to the growth and strategy of the organization.

Position Type

Full-time

Reports To

Manager supporting intaking team (may be an attorney or managing paralegal)

Supervisory Responsibility

N/A

Hiring Timeline

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Salary [2]

$47,500-$63,800

[2] In 2018 Amica Center implemented a compensation framework to be more straightforward, transparent, and provide assurance of internal equity. The compensation model we use is based on an individual’s position and years of relevant work experience to avoid salary discrepancies and to reduce the risk of racial, gender, or other forms of bias affecting a candidate’s salary.

Location and/or Travel Requirements

This position will be based at the Washington, D.C. or Baltimore, M.D. Office with a hybrid work model.  Due to business related travel expectations, it is recommended candidates live within 30-miles of their assigned primary office.  However, we will consider well-qualified remote candidates working near and willing to travel to other detention centers where we receive referrals and represent clients (which include Moshannon, Clinton and Pike in PA and Stewart and Folkston in GA).

Telework

Amica Center operates a hybrid work environment. Most staff are required to work at least one day per week in-office, but some roles require more office/on-site attendance or travel.

COVID-19 Vaccination: 

All employees are required to be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. To be fully vaccinated means having completed the full dosages required for the type of vaccine obtained as designated by the CDC. If boosters are subsequently recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then employees will be required to receive the booster within thirty (30) days of their eligibility to access the boosters.

Amica Center’s benefits package includes:

• 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)
• Eligibility for data reimbursement payments totaling: $300 on an annual basis
• 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

Legal Proficiency  

The employee understands legal concepts at a level to allow for meaningful contribution to client intake, follow-up, and casework with moderate supervision. The employee is working towards self-sufficiency in client-facing legal activities and will demonstrate increasing understanding of how to prepare legal filings.

Client and Programmatic Proficiency  

The employee adequately presents legal and procedural concepts to detained individuals and clients with moderate supervision, including working with clients and their families/support community throughout the course of a case. The employee will develop trauma-informed interviewing and rapport building skills. The employee coordinates with outside entities on referral systems efficiently and effectively. The employee adequately prioritizes time and resources.

Administrative  

The employee ensures that all administrative aspects of their position, attendant to the provision of services to clients and program reporting, are carried out without managerial intervention, including intake logging and case tracking, file upkeep, database upkeep, etc.

• Written and oral Spanish proficiency required.
• It is expected that the candidate will need to travel for work-related business. As a result, the candidate must possess a valid driver’s license and be comfortable operating a vehicle upon hiring. This role requires travel, but qualified individuals with disabilities may be accommodated in a reasonable manner under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• Strong candidates will have experience working in the immigrant community, particularly in immigration law, and/or experience working with people in detention.