In the 1970s and 1980s we helped political refugees seek asylum in the U.S, with an emphasis on asylum-seekers from Central America. At the same time, we worked with grassroots groups to expose violence against immigrant women and children at the U.S. border.

In the 1990s we worked with several other groups to challenge the government's use of secret evidence against noncitizens, and expanded our support for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by forming a national advocacy coalition. We also began to draw attention to the plight of HIV positive noncitizens, and campaigned to end draconian travel restrictions on HIV positive noncitizens and visitors to the U.S.

Today, we are one of the few national-level, legal support groups that specializes in defending the rights of immigrants facing incarceration and deportation.

Senior Legal Staff

Dan Kesselbrenner, Director
Program Areas: Immigration consequences of criminal convictions, Deportation/Detention, Post-9/11 issues
Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 2
E-mail Dan

Dan Kesselbrenner is a nationally recognized expert on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. He supervises all Project work having to do with incarceration and detention issues for immigrants. Dan also represents the National Immigration Project on coalition projects such as the Defending Immigrants Partnership, funded by the Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, and the JEHT Foundation, and the BIA Pro Bono Appeals Project. He is the co-author of Immigration Law and Crimes (West Publishing) and numerous articles on immigration law. In 1992, he served on the Clinton-Gore Department of Justice Immigrant Transition Team. He has also received the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Jack Wasserman Award, the National Immigration Project’s Carol King Award, and Central American Refugee Center’s Achievement Award for his work advancing and defending immigrants’ rights.

Paromita Shah, Associate Director
Program Areas: Detention & Deportation, Raids Response, Gangs & Immigration
Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 1
E-mail Paromita

Paromita recently joined our staff in May 2005. Prior to her current post she was the Detention Project Director of Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, DC from April 2003 to May 2005. Under this project she conducted monthly legal rights presentations in regional county jails in Virginia for immigrants detained by DHS. In addition to providing legal services to those individuals, Paromita mentored and trained attorneys for direct representation, assessed and analyzed claims for relief requested by detainees, coordinated local advocacy efforts, and participated in liaison meetings with DHS and DOJ. From December 1998 through October 2002, she previously worked as a staff attorney in the Immigration Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services.

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Legal Workers and Administrative Staff

Ellen Kemp, Director of Legal Advocacy
Program Areas: VAWA/gender violence issues, U nonimmigrant visa interim relief, HIV/AIDS and immigrants, seminars and legal education
Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 4
E-mail Ellen

Toy Lim, Director of Development and Communications
Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 5
E-mail Toy

Rosa Douglas, Office Manager

Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 3

E-mail Rosa

Ana Manigat, Administrative Assistant
Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 7
E-mail Ana

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Fellows and Interns

Alexandra Rosenblatt, Haywood Burns Fellow, Summer 2008

Phone: 617-227-9727 ext. 6

Email Allie

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