Think Immigration: Prepping Paralegals in the Current Immigration Law Environment

It’s not easy being a paralegal in an immigration law office.

Especially in 2026!!

We are all experiencing similar frustrations including client anxiety and a constant barrage of policy and procedural changes from the U.S. government. Thankfully, our legal community is strong, and we have each other to provide support and learn from. As an attorney who has been in this battle for nearly 26 years, I am always grateful for the paralegals who have assisted me throughout four presidential administrations. I know, for a fact, that my colleagues all have the same sentiments.

I have always analogized the drastic policy changes, from one administration to another, as a swinging pendulum. Therefore, keeping our paralegals as up to date as possible and providing advice and practice tips is key to maintaining success and dealing with client unease. For this reason, I highly recommend that you sign up for the AILA 2026 Paralegals Virtual Conference that will take place September 9th & 10th.

The past year-and-a-half has offered so many new challenges for the paralegal community including increased concerns from clients about whether they can travel safely; longer delays in the processing of immigration benefits; detainment of many without release resulting in a massive number of habeas petitions; and general angst from our clients while trying to maintain expectations that are often not realistic.

In the past several months, my own law practice has evolved to start filing more habeas petitions for clients unlawfully detained by ICE. It has required our paralegals to develop a knowledge of what that process entails. My firm is not unique in this; the evolving immigration system requires a clearer understanding of detention for many practitioners as people who would never have been detained before are incarcerated. The same goes for administrative filings for visas, green cards, naturalization and other benefits. The requisites are becoming more stringent, and the chances of rejected filings or denials have increased exponentially.

For example, two years ago, your client could file a naturalization application without having to include extensive evidence of their good moral character or recent income tax returns. Now it is a must in all filings! Asylum seekers are now facing an uncertain future and will likely reach out more often with concerns. The list of harsher policy changes is never-ending. Having the basic tools in place to try and avoid rejections and denials is critical to success in immigration law and especially in this current environment.

I am personally excited to be the chair of this upcoming conference. The program that we have developed offers two separate tracks that will provide both introductory and more advanced subject matter. The comprehensive nature of this program will bring you current hot topics, technology/practice management components, business and non-business (humanitarian, family-based, naturalization and more) panels. Experts in each individual subject will be on these panels, including fellow paralegals. The emphasis of this conference will not only be on the subject matter but on also the paralegal community, and how you can network and work with one another on tricky issues and resolving hard-to-find answers. Both days will include a networking session designed to connect you with colleagues from around the country.

When you complete this conference, you will walk away with a stronger grasp of the many changes occurring around us. You will feel more confident with the subject matter and how to work with clients struggling in the uncertainty surrounding them. You will build new relationships and hopefully maintain them for a long time coming.

With new challenges come new solutions and this conference will be the doorway to them!

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