2022 Spring Presentation and General Meeting
Tuesday March 22, 2022
If you missed our meeting watch the YouTube video!
Guest speaker: Dean Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia
Afghans in the United States and What Lies Ahead
About Our Program:
The situation with refugees and immigrants is particularly important right now. Our guest speaker will focus on the plight of Afghani refugees. After decades of conflict the UNHCR estimates there are 2.6 million Afghan refugees residing in countries outside of Afghanistan. According to the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey approximately 132,000 foreign born Afghans resided in the United States. The community continues to grow and now includes more than 76,000 Afghani nationals who have arrived since the Taliban seized control in the spring of 2021. The presentation will include a Q&A period.
Our Guest Speaker:
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar; and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law in University Park. At Penn State Law, Professor Wadhia teaches courses in immigration, asylum and refugee law. She is also the founder/director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (CIRC). The CIRC has earned a national reputation for its high-quality work product and impact in the community. Her research on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and the intersections of race, national security, and immigration has been widely cited in dozens of law journals and by numerous federal circuit courts. In 2019, Wadhia testified before Congress on the historical role of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action in immigration cases.
Prior to joining Penn State, Professor Wadhia was deputy director for legal affairs at the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., where she provided legal and policy expertise on multiple legislative efforts, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, comprehensive immigration reform, immigration enforcement, and immigration policy post 9-11.
Business Meeting:
The presentation will be followed by the chapter’s very brief Annual Business Meeting, which is open to all who are interested in learning more about the work of our Chapter. The agenda includes a review of the year’s activities, election of officers, discussion of the budget, and vote on a chapter name change.