Meg Hobbins

Representative Matters

• Represented the former finance minister of Suriname who became the victim of an illegitimate, politically motivated prosecution after his party lost national elections. Successfully challenged the INTERPOL Red Notice that sought the client’s detention and extradition and submitted parallel filings before the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
• Represented a Venezuelan entrepreneur and his family who were deported at the airport and banned for five years after arriving on tourist visas while their immigrant visa applications were pending. Secured expedited waivers of inadmissibility, allowing the family to resume their visa process. When the Embassy later wrongfully rescinded the entrepreneur’s employment-based petition, presented compelling new evidence and had the petition reinstated. The family of four went from a traumatic deportation and entry ban to full U.S. permanent residency.
• Represented a Nigerian engineer wrongly accused of fraud by the U.S. government, in a matter that spanned eight years, multiple agencies, and numerous interviews and hearings. Successfully prevailed in immigration court, overcoming the fraud allegations and securing lawful permanent residence for the client.
• Twice volunteered a week of time at the U.S.-Mexico border, helping detained mothers and children navigate the U.S. asylum process. At the detention center in Dilley, Texas, connected with a young mother who fled horrific sexual abuse in Honduras, took her case pro bono, and won asylum before the Philadelphia Immigration Court for mother and daughter on a novel theory of religious persecution.

Publications

• Book Chapter: Backdoor Extraditions: How Authoritarian Regimes Manipulate Interpol and the US Immigration System to Persecute Dissidents, “Transnational Repression in the Age of Globalisation,” Edinburgh University Press, April 2024 (with Sandra Grossman).
• ICE Issues Updated Guidance on Use of INTERPOL Red Notices, International Enforcement Reporter (Vol. 39, Issue 11), November 2023 (with Dr. Ted Bromund).
• ANALYSIS — Notorious Central Bank lawsuit gets a different face, de Ware Tijd, October 17, 2022 (Meg Hobbins quoted).
• A guide to understanding and challenging persecutory Interpol Red Notices in immigration court and before Interpol, International Bar Association, October 1, 2020 (with Sandra Grossman).
• Matter of W-E-R-B and the Reliability of Red Notices – Benders Immigration Bulletin PDF – Bender’s Immigration Bulletin, June 15, 2020.
• Immigrant Justice Clinic Assists Women, Children Seeking Asylum – American University Washington College of Law, April 2019.
• Threat of U.S. imprisonment won’t deter migrant mothers protecting their children, The Baltimore Sun, February 11, 2019.
• Inadmissibility, Nonimmigrant Visa Practice Manual (DC Bar 2014).
• Family- Based Immigration Law: A Lawyer’s Guide, Editor-in-Chief (DC Bar 2013, 2015).
• Maintaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status, What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Immigration Law (ABA 2014).
• Waivers of Inadmissibility, Family- Based Immigration Law: A Lawyer’s Guide (DC Bar 2013).
• A Practitioner’s Guide to Motions to Suppress Evidence and Terminate Removal Proceedings Due to Constitutional and Regulatory Violations, Immigration Briefings 10 (2010).
• The Day Laborer Debate: Small Town, U.S.A. Takes On Federal Law Regarding Undocumented Workers, 6 Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal 111 (2006).

Presentations

• Interpol Pre-General Assembly Panel, Red Notice Monitor, November 21, 2023, Panelist (with Roger Sahota, Bill Browder, Dr. Ted R. Bromund, and Ben Keith).
• Navigating Complex Waivers of Inadmissability, AILA DC Chapter Annual Conference, November 2023, Panelist.
• “Navigating the Murky Waters of Complex Waivers,” AILA Washington, DC Chapter Fall Conference, November 9, 2022, Panelist.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2022, January 12, 2022, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
• AILA RDC-EMEA Fall Virtual Conference, “Strategies for Returning Residents,” November 17, 2021,
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2021, February 3, 2021, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
• American Immigration Lawyers Association Online Course, Consular Processing and the Role of Consular Officers, September 2020, Faculty and Speaker.
• “INTERPOL, Red Notices, and the Immigrant: Opportunities for Creative Legal Advocacy,” in cooperation with Clark Hill, July, 1 2020, Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2020, February 25, 2020, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2019, February 20, 2019, Course Co-Chair and Speaker.
• American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual National Conference, Practice Management, June 22, 2019,
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Basics 2018, January 23, 2018.
• American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Recent Trends in USCIS, November 7, 2018, Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Update on Family-Based Immigration Law, September 28, 2017, Course Chair and Speaker.
• Federal Bar Association, MyLaw CLE Program, Family-Based Immigration, August 24, 2017,
• American Immigration Lawyers Association Annual National Conference, Humanitarian Options of Last Resort, June 24, 2017,
• Maryland State Bar Association Immigration Law Section, New Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers Regulations and Policies, May 17, 2017,
• Washington College of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic, Immigration Law Career Panel, March 9, 2017,
• American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Introduction to Hardship Waivers, November 16, 2016, Discussion Leader and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 3, 2016, Course Chair and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law Practice Clinic: Family-Based Immigration, August 13, 2015, Course Chair and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Fundamentals of Immigration Law Series: Family-Based Immigration, April 28, 2015, Course Chair and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 19, 2014, Course Chair and Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Law for the Family Law Practitioner, January 15, 2014, Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalization, November 5, 2013, Course Chair and Speaker.
• American Immigration Lawyers Association District of Columbia Chapter Fall Conference, Child Status Protection Act, November 13, 2013,
• S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman’s Conference, Immigrant Waivers: Provisional I-601A Waivers and I-601s, October 24, 2013, Speaker.
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Advising Clients Facing Immigration Hurdles: Introduction to Waivers of Inadmissibility, January 30, 2013, Course Chair and Speaker.
• Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Coalition Forum, Motions to Suppress and Terminate, April 27, 2011,
• District of Columbia Bar Association, Immigration Court Practice, Beyond the Basics: Preparing a Case for Immigration Court, November 4, 2010, Speaker.