Leon Rodriguez | Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Leon Rodriguez is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw, LLP where he serves as the chair of Seyfarth’s Government Relations and Policy Group and is a founding cochair of Seyfarth’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Specialty Team. Leon served as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) from 2014-2017, following an over twenty-five-year career as a prosecutor, law firm partner, and government agency leader. Leon also served in politically appointed posts at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice and served on the Obama-Biden transition team for the Department of Justice. Before joining the Obama administration, Leon was the County Attorney for Montgomery County, MD.

In the last two years, Leon has served as both a senior fellow and a policy mentor at the Brown University Watson Institute on International and Public Affairs, where he has led study groups on humanitarian issues in immigration. He also lectures at the Brown Medical School on immigration and civil rights issues affecting the delivery of health care.

Leon is active in community organizations including serving as a board member of HIAS, Inc., an international refugee serving organization, as well as the Washington Lawyer’s Committee on Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Leon has also in the past served as a board member of CASA de Maryland and the Primary Care Coalition.

I. Increased entry restrictions and reintroduction of travel bans | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

II. The future of DACA and TPS: A public and workforce crisis | 1:20pm – 1:40pm

III. Stricter employment-based visa requirements: Workforce and economic impact | 1:40pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

IV. Enhanced enforcement measures and the spotlight on E-Verify and I-9 compliance | 2:10pm – 2:30pm

V. H-4 EAD rescission: Families and the economy in the crosshairs | 2:30pm – 2:50pm

VI. The EB-5 investor program: Public perception and policy reality | 2:50pm – 3:10pm