AILA Carolinas CLE in G-Vegas

Join us for a wonderful program in the Hayne Hipp Community Room of the Feed and Seed Co. in Greenville, South Carolina

Also please join us Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at (Same address as the CLE: 701 Easley Bridge Road, Suite 4155, Greenville, SC 29611). Drinks and light appetizers will be provided.

Agenda Below

Parking instructions: Parking is available free on site!

Hotel recommendations: Swamp Rabbit Inn (Swamp Rabbit Inn) Bed & Breakfast – Rates for 2/6: $159 / night. Close to downtown and very close to a 20+ mile bike trail. Free on-site parking. 1.7 miles away from CLE venue.

Aloft Greenville (https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/gspal-aloft-greenville-downtown/overview/) – Rates for 2/6 range from $136 - $212 / night, depending on Bonvoy membership status and room type. Great downtown location, Parking is $7 / day, have electric car charging station. 2.2 miles away from CLE ven

TICKETS ARE NOT REFUNDABLE

AILA CAROLINA WILL REPORT CLE CREDITS TO THE NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTH CAROLINA BARS ONLY. ATTORNEYS NEEDING TO REPORT TO OTHER STATES ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR REPORTING AND PAYMENT. Program should provide 5 hours of CLE credit in NC/SC. See below for more info on CLE credits.

The chapter will only apply for CLE credits for participants with the NC and SC State Bar that confirm their participation in a timely manner. Due to the limited resources of our volunteer committee, participants seeking CLE credit in other states must do so on their own.

For NC and SC participants: Participants must sign in to receive credit. This process allows the volunteer committee to apply for CLE credit in a timely and efficient manner, so please respect it!

For all other states: A copy of the bios for all speakers, agenda, and a copy of the materials and powerpoint presentations from each event will be provided to each confirmed participant after the event. Due to limited resources the chapter cannot provide further documentation for those pursuing CLE credit in other states.

CLE fees: NC and SC credit fees will be paid by the chapter for chapter sponsored CLEs. Unfortunately due to the administrative costs of doing so, the chapter cannot pay CLE fees for other states.

Use of CLE materials: Any materials provided as part of an AILA Carolinas CLE are intended only for the personal use of the attendees or CLE reporting. The materials are not to be shared on any online platforms or used in any other manner not consistent with personal use without prior approval of the presenter. Presenters are expected to make good faith efforts to acknowledge information shared from outside sources as part of their presentation materials. Violations of any part of this provision should be reported to the CLE committee or the Executive Committee for appropriate action.

AGENDA

AILA CAROLINAS CLE

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

8:30-8:50 Registration

8:50-9:00 Welcome

9:00 – 10:00 Federal Litigation – Part 1

10:15-11:15 Federal Litigation – Part 2

HELEN PARSONAGE

NICK HARLING

HALSTON CHAVEZ

11:30-12:30 Alternative Options for Vulnerable Populations

PATRICIA RAVENHORST

TREY DEBRINE

12:30-2:00 Lunch / Business Meeting / Remarks from NC Justice Center

2:15-3:15 Hot Topics – Trump 2.0

COLLEEN MOLNER

ELIZBETH HUTCHENS

SUSAN HILLER

Faculty Biographies

(listed alphabetically by last name)

HALSTON A. CHAVEZ is an Associate Attorney at The Galati Law Firm. Halston has primarily focused on federal court litigation and EB-5, extraordinary ability, and family immigration matters. She has also prepared Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and assisted in FOIA lawsuits for the unlawful withholding of documents by U.S. government agencies. Additionally, Halston has worked on O-1, naturalization, adjustment of status, consular processing cases, and more.

Halston is licensed to practice law in the state of North Carolina and before the Eastern, Western, and Middle Districts of North Carolina. She is also admitted to litigate before the District of Nebraska and the United States

Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Halston is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Halston graduated summa cum laude from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was awarded The Faculty Award for Academic Achievement and The TASA Prize for Outstanding Performance in Evidence. As a law student, Halston advocated on behalf of immigrants through various immigration matters including asylum, DACA, family petitions, U-Visas and more. She also gained experience in drafting appeals with the Administrative Appeals Office and Board of Immigration Appeals. In her first year of law school, Halston traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to serve asylum seekers at the U.S. – Mexico border. Before attending law school, Halston graduated summa cum laude from the University of Cincinnati (UC) with a B.A. in International Business and Finance and a minor in Spanish. During her time at UC, Halston founded the University’s first Latino Mentorship Program, which is flourishing today. Halston’s passion for serving the immigrant community began when she went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in high school. Thereafter, she dedicated herself to learning Spanish which she is now fluent in. Halston has also served abroad in Honduras and studied abroad in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Outside of practicing law, Halston enjoys traveling, dancing salsa with her husband, trying new food, and watching sports.

TREY DEBRINE is Associate Attorney, focuses on employment-based immigration law. He has represented Fortune 100 companies, school districts, medical facilities of all sizes, mid-sized businesses, and small businesses with as little as one immigrant employee. Trey has also represented individual clients with family- based immigration, J-1 waivers, student opportunities, independent employment search options, and naturalization. Finally, Trey focuses on strategic use of employment-based visas for vulnerable populations. Trey graduated in the top ten percent of his class from the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Spanish. Trey later received his J.D. from the Washington College of Law American University. During law school, Trey represented clients with the Immigrant Justice Clinic, served as the Immigrants; Rights Coalition Policy/Advocacy Committee Chair, and held positions with the American Bar Association and

prominent immigration law firms.

SUSAN HILLER is an Attorney at Hiller Law Group, where she practices immigration law. Susan was born at theUS Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, and spent the first five years of her life growing up in Hawaii, andthereafter New Hampshire and Virginia. She attended Boston College and majored in Psychology and minored in Spanish and interned at the INS Boston Office of the District Counsel. After college, Susan attended Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey, working at the INS Office of the District Counsel in NYC during summer and the last two years of law school, and received her Juris Doctorate in May 1997, Massacahsetts bar in 1997 and New York Bar in 1998. Susan was hired by the US Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Office of the District Counsel through the U.S. Attorney General Honor Program in 1997, and began her career as an attorney with INS in October 1997 at 26 Federal Plaza in NYC. She thereafter transferred to the Boston Office at the JFK Federal Building. In 2008, she took a position to teach ICE's Officers and Agents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, where she taught ICE's Special Agents, Deportation Officers, OPR, FPS, and Criminal Analysts for three years before being promoted to teach State Troopers and police officers from across the nation in the 287g Program and Advanced Classes to Supervisory Deportation Officers at the ICE Academy in Charleston, SC. After six years of legal instruction to ICE's Officers and delegated local officers, she returned to court action at the CharlotteOPLA Office as an Assistant Chief Counsel. During her time at CLT OPLA, she was on the worksite enforcement team, denaturalization team, fourth amendment team, and was in charge of the AttorneyTraining Program for the ATL AOR from 2020-2022. In 2019, she was on a detail to OPLA HQ in the Executive Communications Unit where she was responsible for reviewing the Trump Administration's initial immigration policies and coordinating responses from ICE component stakeholders. In 2022, she retired from Federal service after 30 years in the federal government.

ELIZABETH HUTCHENS is an Associate Attorney at Fay, Grafton, Nunez in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she practices immigration law. Elizabeth was born in Elkin, North Carolina. She attended UNC Chapel Hill and majored in Spanish and Political Science. After college, Elizabeth moved to San Francisco, California and worked as a behavior therapist at a non-profit that specialized in Applied Behavioral Analysis for children with autism. Elizabeth received her law degree in May 2017 from UNC School of Law. After law school, Elizabeth worked for Hatch Rockers Immigration for 5 years before joining Fay Grafton Nunez in August of 2022.

PATRICIA S. RAVENHORST is the General Counsel and Director of Systems Advocacy for the SC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) where she provides legal support for the organization; legal technical assistance and education to SCCADVASA’s 22 member organizations and other professional partners and management of SCCADVASA’s contract and pro bono attorney program. Ms. Ravenhorst has been training attorneys, criminal justice professionals and the community on the unique legal needs of survivors of crime; immigration and human trafficking for over 18 years. Prior to joining SCCADVASA, Tricia served as the Director and Attorney of the SC Victim Assistance Network’s (SCVAN) Immigrant Victim Program, where she established the organization’s specialized legal and supportive services to immigrant survivors of crime and the SC Immigrant Victim Coalition, which brings together professionals throughout the state working with immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and human trafficking. Prior to joining SCVAN, Ms. Ravenhorst practiced employment and immigration law at the Wyche Law Firm in Greenville, South Carolina. Her prior work experience also includes internships with the South African Secretariat for Safety and Security in Pretoria, South Africa. Tricia earned her Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in Political Science/Certification in Latin American Studies from Duke University and her Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Florida State University. Ms. Ravenhorst is licensed to practice before both federal and state courts in South Carolina and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Association for Victim’s Rights.

Host or Publisher AILA Carolinas Chapter