USF Law Review Symposium - Navigating Boundaries: Legal Perspectives on Migration

How can collaborative, cross-disciplinary strategies reshape immigration law and address pressing migration challenges, including DACA status and statelessness?

Join us for the 2025 Law Review Symposium featuring human rights, policy, and international law experts exploring innovative solutions and forward-thinking approaches to migration issues that impact our global future.

Reception to follow.

Schedule and Speaker List

Speaker Bios

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30am

Welcome Remarks

9:00 - 9:15am

  • Eva Huffman, USF Law Review Vol. 59, Editor-in-Chief

  • Professor Bill Ong Hing, USF School of Law

Panel 1 - EXPANDING ACCESS: Reimagining Legal support for vulnerable Immigrants

9:15-10:30 am

This panel will explore innovative approaches to bridging the justice gap for pro se litigants and vulnerable populations in immigration proceedings. Panelists will discuss Sabrina Rivera’s critical examination of layperson legal aid in empowering pro se immigrants, including strategies like community paralegals and jailhouse lawyers. Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer will provide insights into alternative employment-based immigration options for DACA recipients. Jacqueline Brown will provide a trauma-informed critique of the fragmented legal representation system for asylum seekers, highlighting the need for attorney-led strategies in building stronger asylum claims. Together, these perspectives will offer fresh ideas on expanding access to justice in a strained legal system.

Moderator:

  • Lindsay M. Harris, USF School of Law

Panelists:
  • Jacqueline Brown, USF School of Law
  • Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, Cornell Law School
  • Sabrina Rivera, Western State College of Law

Panel 2 - BRIDging domestic policy and international human rights: The future of immigration reform

10:45am -12:00 pm

This panel will explore the intersection of U.S. immigration policy with international human rights law, examining how global human rights mechanisms can influence domestic reform. By focusing on the detention of children and potential pathways for undocumented workers, panelists will highlight the role of international pressure in shaping U.S. immigration practices. Topics will include international non-refoulement obligations and the growing need for broader protection for climate-displaced migrants. The discussion will also consider how U.S. engagement with the U.N. and other international bodies could accelerate critical reforms in immigration law.

Moderator:

  • Lindsay M. Harris, USF School of Law

Panelists:

  • Lauren Bartlett, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • Shaw Drake, Stanford Law School

  • Helen Kerwin, Berkeley Law

Lunch

12:00 - 1:00pm

Panel 3 - Immigration law in flux: navigating criminal penalties and agency power

1:00-2:15 pm

This panel will explore the intersection of immigration law with broader shifts in administrative law and the criminal legal system. Recent Supreme Court decisions have dramatically reshaped the power of federal agencies, including a narrowing of regulatory authority and a reevaluation of the extent of executive branch control. Together, the panelists will address the overlapping themes of regulatory power, the role of courts in immigration matters, and the enduring challenges faced by immigrants navigating the complexities of both federal and state legal frameworks. This panel will provide critical insights into the evolving legal landscape, focusing on how these systemic shifts may impact noncitizens and their rights.

Moderator:

  • Bill Ong Hing, USF School of Law

Panelists:

  • Stacy Caplow, Brooklyn Law School

  • Jennifer M. Chacόn, Stanford Law School

  • Francisco Ugarte, Immigration Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender's Office

Keynote Address

2:30 - 3:15pm

  • Gaby Pacheco, TheDream.US

CLosing Remarks

3:15 - 3:25pm

  • Aram Manoukian, USF Law Review, Vol. 59, Symposium Editor

Reception

3:25 - 4:30pm

MCLE Credits:

Earn up to 4.5 hours of CLE credit.*

Questions? Email Kenji Quijano or call (415) 422-5896.

*This activity has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of 4.5 credit hours. The University of San Francisco School of Law is an approved provider of MCLE and certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved educational activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.