Immigration Law in Flux: Key Updates from Courts and Agencies, Enforcement Trends, and the Road Ahead (Presented by The Federal Bar Association Professional Development Committee and Labor & Employment Section)

Rebecca Sharpless, Faculty Member | University of Miami School of Law

Rebecca Sharpless is a faculty member of the University of Miami School of Law, where she is the founding director of the Immigration Clinic and teaches immigration law. With her clinic students, Professor Sharpless represents indigent noncitizens in removal proceedings and engages in litigation in U.S. district court and before the U.S. courts of appeals. Her award-winning book published by the University of California Press, Shackled: 92 Refugees Imprisoned On ICE Air, examines our immigration enforcement system through the stories of two Somali men who were shackled for two days on a botched 2017 ICE Air flight. Professor Sharpless has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including the 2025 Swarthmore College Eugene Lang Impact Award, multiple book awards (2024 IPPY bronze, 2024 Foreword Indies bronze, 2024 Readers’ Choice finalist), the 2024 Clinical Legal Education Association Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project (honorable mention), the 2021 University of Miami’s Provost’s Teaching Award, the 2019 Arthur C. Helton Memorial Human Rights Award (team defense of Somali 92), and the 2018 Elmer Fried Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Martin Rosenow, Partner | Rosenow Taramasco P.A

Martin Rosenow is a Miami-based immigration attorney and a partner at Rosenow Taramasco P.A. Inspired by his grandfather, a prominent immigration attorney, Rosenow continues a family legacy in the field, advocating on behalf of clients in a wide range of employment- and family-based immigration matters.

Susan G. Roy, Attorney Advisor | Board of Immigration Appeals

Susan G. Roy began her legal career through the Department of Justice Attorney General Honors Program, as an Attorney Advisor at the Board of Immigration Appeals. She became an Assistant Chief Counsel and National Security Attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Newark, NJ. From 2008-2010, she served as an Immigration Judge, also in Newark. Sue then entered private practice and is a solo practitioner specializing in complex criminal immigration cases and federal litigation. Most recently, Sue has become the Managing Attorney for the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice’s Detention, Deportation, and Defense Initiative.

Sue is the former Chair of both the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) NJ Chapter and the NJ State Bar Association Immigration Law Section. She is currently the Vice-Chair of the Municipal Court Practice Section and has been a member of the NJSBA Legislative Committee for several years. In 2024, Sue has been awarded the AILA Sam Williamson Mentor Award. In 2023, she received the NJSBA Distinguished Legislative Services Award.

Sue has been a guest lecturer at many area law schools, and has taught as an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School, University of DC Law School, and Mercer County College. She is on the faculty of the Immigration Trial Advocacy College and Vecina, two pro bono organizations that train litigation attorneys in trial advocacy skills. In addition, she has authored articles in the NJ Law Journal and the AILA Law Journal, among others.

Sue is a member of the Round Table of Former Immigration Judges, and, through the Round Table, has been involved in over 70 amici briefs before SCOTUS, the federal courts of appeal, the NJ Supreme Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and more. As a Round Table member, in 2019, she was awarded the AILA Advocacy Award of the Year. She has been a speaker and/or moderator for many NJSBA conferences, in the areas of immigration, municipal court practice, ethics, LGBTQ+ rights, school law, and more. She has presented at numerous AILA national, regional, and local conferences, as well as the NYSBA, the Federal Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Mercer County Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute, and many others.

Moderator, Ira Kurzban, Founder | Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt, P.A.

Ira Kurzban is a founder of the law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt, P.A., of Miami, Florida. He is a past-national President and former General Counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is a Fellow of the American Bar Association. He has litigated over hundred federal cases concerning the rights of aliens, including Jean v. Nelson, Commissioner v. Jean, and McNary v. Haitian Refugee Center, Inc., which he argued before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Kurzban is an adjunct faculty member in Immigration and Nationality Law at the University of Miami School of Law. He is the author of Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook, the most widely used two-volume immigration source in the United States in its 19th Edition and he has lectured and otherwise published extensively in the field of immigration law, including articles in the Harvard Law Review and Columbia University Press.

Mr. Kurzban has practiced Immigration and Nationality Law for over 40 years and has won numerous awards for his work. He was the first recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award presented to him by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court for his work in protecting Haitian asylum seekers. He was selected as an Honorary Fellow by the University of Pennsylvania Law School for his work on behalf of refugees. He has been the recipient of the Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowship from Harvard Law School and in 2020 he received the Leonard J. Theberge Award for Private International Law from the American Bar Association.

I. EOIR and Agency Decisions & Executive Orders and Policy Memos | 2:00pm – 2:15pm

II. Detention/Enforcement Actions & the Criminal Justice System | 2:15pm – 2:30pm

• Changes in Immigration Enforcement
• Jail to Deportation Pipeline
• Third Country Removals
• Immigration Detention & Strategies for Release

III. Employment Issues for Individuals | 2:30pm – 2:45pm

• Restriction of immigration options for highly skilled workers
• Establishment of Project Firewall, an employment visa enforcement initiative, by the U.S. Department of Labor
• Proposed changes to Optional Practical Training (OPT) for Student-Visa holders, an important pipeline for retaining foreign talent
• Proposed new weighted H-1B visa lottery that prioritizes higher-paid and higher-skilled workers, replacing the current random selection system and further disincentivizing young foreign talent

IV. U.S. Supreme Court Decisions | 2:45pm – 2:55pm

V. Q&A Session and Closing | 2:55pm – 3:00pm