Spooky T visas: Paranormal activity, brujeria, and more spooky T visa tales

As if anti-trafficking work wasn’t creepy enough, sometimes we see some really spooky coercion and scams that scream “T visa!”
About this Event

Get out your Halloween candy and flashlights so we can shine some light on some creepy things to watch for in trafficking screening “deep dives.” In all serious, screening for these issues and addressing them appropriately with T visa clients is important to any immigration lawyer’s law practice. Is asking about the occult on your T visa checklist?

*Please know, there are things your clients have been through but don’t mention because they are not asked.

In this session we will cover as much as we can on:

Paranormal activity, charms, spells, concoctions and other made-scary things used to keep victims under power and control
Brujeria, Santería, Witchcraft, Black Magic and the use of religious and spiritual practices and rituals to commit the crime of human trafficking
Approaching questioning about any form of religious or spiritual coercion in T screening
Spiritual scams leading to trafficking
Confusion between healing arts and hurtful scams, drugging victims, and inducing people into providing sex or services
Case discussion
Q&A – Please bring your hypos

Spooky defined: sinister or ghostly in a way that causes fear and unease (Webster’s Dictionary)

Speaker Bios:
Emma Buckthal:

Emma Buckthal is an immigration attorney near Buffalo, New York. She was a one of the FBI's 2018 Director’s Community Leadership Award Recipients. In a ceremony at FBI Headquarters on May 3, 2019, Director Christopher Wray recognized the recipients of the 2018 Director’s Community Leadership Award. These leaders, selected by their area FBI field office, have demonstrated outstanding contributions to their local communities through service. She received her JD summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School, and her BA magna cum laude from Alfred University. She worked for the Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) from 2010 to 2022.

There, she focused her legal work on immigrants before USCIS, EOIR, and ICE. Before joining VLP, she volunteered at VLP for three years as a student intern, and spent summers at Kalikova & Associates in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Chadbourne and Parke LLP in New York, New York. She also taught English in Taiwan before attending law school. Emma is fluent in Spanish and conversational in Arabic and Turkish.

Helen Tarokic:

Helen Tarokic is an immigration attorney who counsels both individuals and businesses in all aspects of immigration law, including citizenship, employment-based immigration, humanitarian and victim visas, and removal defense. She advises clients nationwide and abroad. Her law office, Helen Tarokic Law PLLC, handles investment visas, O-1 cases, and PERM labor certification (types of employment-based immigration cases), and has been on the cutting edge of T and U visa law practice.

Ms. Tarokic is Board Certified by the North Carolina State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization as a NC Board Certified Immigration Law Specialist in the State of North Carolina. Ms. Tarokic is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Since immigration falls under federal law, Ms. Tarokic can represent individual and business clients throughout the U.S. and abroad in their U.S. immigration matters. She is admitted to practice in the NC Courts as well as the Federal District Court for the Middle District of NC.

Ms. Tarokic obtained her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2006, with awards for mentoring and promoting the concerns of women in the legal profession. She graduated summa cum laude from Lake Forest College near Chicago, Illinois, in 2000 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in International Relations.