Creating a Robust and Secure US Refugee Protection System A Symposium Presented by the Center for Migration Studies of New York Tuesday, June 3, 2014 Center for Migration Studies 307 E. 60th Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10022 10:00 am to 5:30 pm Protection of those fleeing or at-risk of persecution, torture, or extreme danger represents a centerpiece of international and US immigration law. It also constitutes one of the most pressing and unattended challenges in the US immigration field. The US refugee protection system, broadly understood to encompass refugees, asylum-seekers, and non-citizens in need of short-term protection, has ambitious goals and diverse responsibilities. It seeks to screen, admit and promote the integration of refugees; to adjudicate political asylum cases; and to offer temporary protection to persons from designated countries. It also seeks to detect and prevent the admission of persons that raise national security, public safety, and fraud concerns. To address the need for concentrated academic and policy attention to this pillar of the US immigration system and the international system of refugee protection, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) is publishing a series of papers on the US refugee protection system that will offer recommendations to strengthen and reform the system. The series is made possible through the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Papers will be published on-line and in a special print edition of CMS’s public policy journal, the Journal on Migration and Human Security (http://jmhs.cmsny.org). This event will feature presentations by the authors and other experts on challenges and recommendations related to territorial access, refugee resettlement, political asylum, temporary protection, the stateless, migrants in “crisis,” unaccompanied minors, and other populations at particular risk. Symposium Agenda 10:00-11:10 am Placing US Protection Issues in a Global Context and the Challenge of Migrants in Crisis • Donald Kerwin, Executive Director, Center for Migration Studies (Introductory Remarks) • Mark von Sternberg, Senior Attorney, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York (International Law and the Global Context) • Sanjula Weerasinghe, Research Associate, Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University (Migrants in Crisis) • Shelly Pitterman, Regional Representative, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Placing US Protection Issues in a Global Context) 307 East 60th Street, Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10022 • P: 212.337.3080 • [email protected] • www.cmsny.org 11:10 am-12:20 pm Access to Protection and Unaccompanied Minors • Megan McKenna, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Kids in Need of Defense (Moderator) • Margaret Stock, Attorney, Cascadia Cross Border Law Group LLC (Territorial Access) • Anna Cabot, Clinical Fellow, Asylum and Human Rights Clinic, University of Connecticut (Protection on the US-Mexico Border) • Anna Gallagher, Attorney, Maggio + Kattar (Unaccompanied Minors) 12:20-1:30 pm Lunch Break 1:30-2:55 pm Protection of Refugees and Persons in Need of Temporary Protection • Linda Hartke, President and CEO, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (Moderator) • Anastasia Brown, Director of Resettlement Services, Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB) (The US Refugee Resettlement System) • Todd Scribner, Education Outreach Coordinator, MRS/USCCB (The US Refugee Resettlement System) • Claire Bergeron, Associate Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute (Temporary Protected Status) • Donald Kerwin, Executive Director, Center for Migration Studies (Temporary Protection as Part of a Seamless Web of Protection) 2:55-3:10 pm Break 3:10-4:20 pm Political Asylum and Permanent Protection in the United States • Karen Grisez, Public Service Counsel, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (Moderator) • Maryellen Fullerton, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School (Protection of the Stateless) • Mario Russell, Senior Attorney, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York (Trends and Recent Developments in US Asylum Law) • Mark Noferi, Visiting Associate Fellow, Center for Migration Studies (Detention, Due Process, and Internal Barriers to Protection) 4:20-5:30 pm Legislative and Policy Solutions • Eleanor Acer, Director of Refugee Protection, Human Rights First (Moderator) • Melanie Nezer, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, HIAS • Tara Magner, Speaking in her personal capacity. 5:30 pm Conference Concludes 2 Speaker Bios Eleanor Acer Director of Refugee Protection Human Rights First Eleanor Acer is the Director of Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection Program. She oversees their pro bono representation and advocacy on issues relating to refugee protection, asylum, and migrants’ rights. Ms. Acer advocates, speaks, and writes regularly on issues relating to the human rights of refugees and migrants. She has authored numerous reports and articles, and has testified before the US Congress. Ms. Acer was awarded the Louis J. Lefkowitz Public Service Award by Fordham University School of Law in 2007 and was selected by the American Bar Association to serve on its Commission on Immigration. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the International Detention Coalition and was Vice Chair of the Refugee Council USA from 2006 to 2008. She has taught classes on refugee protection and migrants’ rights as an adjunct professor at the New School’s Graduate Program in International Affairs. Ms. Acer received a law degree from Fordham University School of Law and a bachelor of arts in History from Brown University. Claire Bergeron Associate Policy Analyst Migration Policy Institute Claire Bergeron is an Associate Policy Analyst with the US Immigration Program at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), where she works on immigration enforcement issues and co-authors the “Policy Beat” for the Migration Information Source, the Institute's online journal. Prior to joining MPI, Ms. Bergeron worked as a paralegal and Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago. She holds a bachelor of arts in anthropology and legal studies from Northwestern University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Anastasia Brown Director of Resettlement Services United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services Anastasia Brown is the Director of Resettlement Services for the Department of Migration and Refugee Services at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She has over 22 years of experience with refugee resettlement and is versed with both overseas and domestic resettlement issues. Her responsibilities include supervision of all services to refugees resettled through the Catholic network in the United States. Anna Cabot Clinical Fellow, Asylum and Human Rights Clinic University of Connecticut School of Law Anna Cabot is a Clinical Fellow with the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Previously, she served as Managing Attorney with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas and was the Legal Service Coordinator for Asylum Access, Thailand. Ms. Cabot was also a Litigation Fellow at the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. She graduated from American University Washington College of Law in 2009. While at Washington College of Law, she represented refugees and survivors of human trafficking. She also 3 brought cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning issues such as non- refoulement and indefinite solitary confinement. Maryellen Fullerton Professor of Law Brooklyn Law School Maryellen Fullerton is a Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Her research focuses on comparative refugee law and the empirical and normative aspects of the worldwide effect of the Common European Asylum System. She was recently appointed to the Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Trento through the US Fulbright program. This appointment is her second Fulbright Award. Professor Fullerton was a German Marshall Fund Fellow in Budapest and a Visiting Scholar at the Juan March Institute’s Center for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Madrid. She is also one of the founding editors of the Refugee Law Reader, a comprehensive on-line resource. She has co-authored two casebooks, Forced Migration: Law and Policy and Immigration and Citizenship Law: Process and Policy, which are used by more than 100 law schools and universities throughout the United States. In addition to teaching and researching, she has headed several human rights missions in Germany for Human Rights Watch, has been a consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has been active in projects providing support to refugee law clinics in Eastern Europe. Professor Fullerton is also affiliated with the Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law and the Brooklyn Law School International Human Rights Fellowship Program. Anna Gallagher Attorney Maggio + Kattar Anna Marie Gallagher is a Shareholder at Maggio + Kattar and the Head of the Immigration Litigation and Global Visas practice. Ms. Gallagher has practiced immigration, refugee and human rights law for more than two decades in the United States, Central America and Europe. Her experience includes private practice, legal advocacy in the nonprofit sector, and several years in academia. In addition