Free Virtual Panel · Live Q&A

Inside USCIS

How Non-Adversarial Adjudication, Officer Training & Agency Culture Shape Case Outcomes

Friday, August 14, 2026 2:30 PM ET · Streaming Live
  • Headshot of Victoria Slatton, Esq. Victoria Slatton, Esq.
  • Headshot of Jason D. Marks Jason D. Marks
  • Headshot of Marta Nickols Marta Nickols

Streaming on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & LinkedIn — no ticket required.

Free Community Event

Register Today

Registering is optional but recommended — we’ll send you the livestream links and a reminder. You can also just follow our socials and join the live at 2:30 PM ET. Have a question for the panel? Add it below and we’ll try to cover it.

What to expect

Three former USCIS officers pull back the curtain on how the agency actually decides cases — across the full range of what it handles, from family-based and marriage petitions to employment-based cases, naturalization, and asylum. If your case runs through USCIS, this is about understanding the people and process on the other side of the desk.

Unlike immigration court or an ICE interview, USCIS is designed to be non-adversarial: officers are trained to develop the record, review evidence, and assess credibility rather than to cross-examine you. We’ll talk about what that means in practice — how officer training, agency culture, internal processes, and workload shape outcomes — and how any applicant, petitioner, or advocate can use the human element of USCIS in their favor through organization, consistency, and clear preparation. We’ll close with a live Q&A, taking questions submitted in advance and from the livestream audience.

Meet your panelists

Headshot of Victoria Slatton, Esq.

Victoria Slatton, Esq.

Founder & Managing Partner, Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates · Former DHS Asylum Officer

Victoria Slatton is the Founder and Managing Attorney of Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates. Earlier in her career she served as an Asylum Officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where she adjudicated more than one hundred affirmative asylum applications and drafted legal decisions following specialized federal training. She now focuses her practice on asylum, removal defense, family-based immigration, humanitarian relief, and federal court litigation, and has appeared in national media including CNN, The Washington Post, and NPR.

Headshot of Jason D. Marks

Jason D. Marks

Attorney, Writer & Advocate · Former USCIS Asylum Training Officer and Supervisory Refugee Officer

Jason D. Marks is an attorney, writer, and advocate who served for eleven years with USCIS as an Asylum Officer, Refugee Officer, Asylum Training Officer, and Supervisory Refugee Officer. He adjudicated thousands of refugee and asylum cases and trained and supervised officers across the U.S. asylum and refugee programs. Since leaving government service, Jason has focused on public education, expert consultation, litigation support, and writing about asylum, refugee protection, and the institutions that shape immigration outcomes. He recently prepared an expert declaration in federal asylum litigation and has been featured or quoted in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and NOTUS. His op-ed, “The U.S. Hired Me to Protect Refugees. Now It Tells Me to Abandon Them,” was published in The Washington Post.

Headshot of Marta Nickols

Marta Nickols

Former USCIS Field Office Director · Immigration Consultant, Visas 101

Marta Maya Nickols is an immigrant, former USCIS Field Office Director, and immigration consultant with more than 17 years of experience at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Having experienced the U.S. immigration system both personally and professionally, she combines empathy for applicants with an insider’s understanding of how immigration benefits are adjudicated. During her career with USCIS she adjudicated and supervised thousands of cases, ultimately serving as a Field Office Director overseeing adjudications, interviews, quality assurance, and field office operations across both family- and employment-based immigration. Today, through Visas 101, she translates complex USCIS adjudication practices into practical guidance — strategic case consultations, petition and evidence reviews, interview preparation, and training for attorneys and legal teams across the United States.

Who this is for

  • Anyone with a case before USCIS — family-based or marriage, employment-based, naturalization, asylum, or humanitarian — who wants to understand how it’s actually evaluated
  • Petitioners, applicants, and families preparing for a USCIS interview or filing
  • Immigration attorneys, paralegals, legal advocates, and law students who want an officer’s-eye perspective
  • Community members, press, and anyone curious about how USCIS works from the inside

How to join

This is a free, fully virtual event. Register above to get the livestream links and a reminder, or simply follow one of our channels and tune in on Friday, August 14 at 2:30 PM ET. No ticket required.

About Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates

Slatton & Hass Immigration Advocates, LLC is a boutique immigration and federal litigation firm based in Silver Spring, Maryland, representing clients in asylum, removal defense, family-based immigration, and humanitarian relief. The firm is known for taking on complex, high-stakes cases with meticulous preparation and steady advocacy.

Details

Friday, August 14, 2026 · 2:30 to 4:00 PM ET
Virtual — streaming live to TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and the LinkedIn pages of panelists Jason D. Marks and Marta Nickols.

Questions before the event? Reach out to Slatton & Hass.
Email: info@slattonhasslaw.com
Phone: 240-891-2154
Website: https://slattonhasslaw.com/