BROADCASTS.com

Professor Bram Elias is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Iowa's College of Law and directs the Clinic's immigration practice. Bram received his BA from the University of Michigan, an MA from The Queen's University in Belfast, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a JD from the Yale University Law School. He also clerked for Senior Judge Dorothy Nelson of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Judge Denise Casper of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Prior to joining the University of Iowa College of Law, Bram worked as an immigration attorney in private practice in Iowa City, where his work focused on federal immigration law, removal defense, immigration-related family law issues in state court, and immigration-related post-conviction review and habeas corpus litigation in state and federal courts. Professor Elias' students practice before federal immigration courts and administrative bodies, the federal Board of Immigration Appeals, and state and federal courts and both the trial and appellate levels.

Bram speaks about the most common problems and changes that are seen locally as a result of the new tenor of immigration politics and policies being spread by the Trump Administration. He gives specific examples in his discussion, such as cases where members of immigrant communities are too afraid to talk to local law enforcement or go to court, children of mixed-status families refusing free and reduced lunch at school, and members of immigrant communities being too afraid to go to the emergency room. He will also speak about his students' work within the area, such as working with the Johnson County Community ID program, helping set up new organizations like the Eastern Iowa Community Bond Fund, designing bespoke 'power of attorney'/ 'in case of emergency' legal packets for individual families, and more.

For more information about the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, visit icfrc.org