KramerLevin continues to be extremely active in asylum work, with several new cases initiated under the coordination of Aaron Frankel and Michael Sternhell. In 2006, firm lawyers and summer associates represented nineteen victims of torture and persecution from Burma, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Jamaica, Malaysia, Pakistan, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Tibet, Togo, and Uganda.

Burma. Silvia Salvadori and Marissa Leung, with the supervision of Michael Sternhell, successfully obtained asylum for a pro-democracy activist from Burma. Officials from the Burmese military government repeatedly warned our client to cease her pro-democracy activities. After one incident, she was detained by military intelligence officials and severely beaten over a prolonged period. Our client faced further detention and torture if returned to Burma. Aaron Frankel, Jean-Paul Ciardullo, Jay Park, Jr., then-summer associate Steven Schiliro, and paralegals Hana Lee and Leslie Ross provided assistance with this case.

Colombia. Aaron Frankel, Mital Gondha, and Gregory Dolin obtained asylum for a gay man who fled Colombia to escape severe persecution because of his sexual orientation and his pro-gay rights civil activism. Our client was the victim of verbal and physical death threats, physical assaults, extortion, theft, and threats of rape by Colombian police forces, assaults by members of the Colombian military, housing discrimination, and severe mental traumatization. He fled Colombia after barely escaping a police roundup where several gay men were taken to a remote forest area and executed. Then-summer associate Oliver McKinstry and paralegals Hana Lee and Matt Keating assisted on this case.

Jean-Paul Ciardullo assisted a Colombian citizen, for whom Kramer Levin previously obtained asylum, in connection with his application for permanent residence. Our client is a gay man who fled Colombia after suffering persecution by the Colombian police and military during his time in military school. After arriving in the United States, our client was diagnosed as HIV-positive and feared returning to his home country, where people with HIV are singled out for violent abuse. Since he was granted asylum, our client graduated from the Culinary Institute and is currently working in the restaurant business in Las Vegas. Aaron Frankel supervised this case.

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Leslie Nguyen and Matthew Abbott, supervised by Erin Walter and assisted by then-summer associates Katie Pirozzolo and Keith Martorana and paralegal Marina Trad, secured asylum for a woman from Cote d'Ivoire who was a victim of female genital mutilation (FGM). Having successfully removed her 12-year old U.S. citizen daughter from Cote d'Ivoire, where her ex-husband's family was planning to subject her to FGM, the client sought asylum based on her fear that she would be persecuted by her ex-husband's family and the community if she returned to Cote d'Ivoire because of her efforts to save her daughter from FGM. The case was complicated by the fact that the client was filing her asylum application twelve years after her first arrival in the United States, well past the one year filing deadline, which is usually an absolute bar to obtaining asylum. The Kramer Levin team successfully argued that the client had experienced changed circumstances sufficient to overcome the one year filing deadline, based on the recent arrival of her daughter in the U.S. and the threat that her daughter, who had no one else to care for her, would be constructively deported if the client were forced to leave the U.S.

Democratic Republic of Congo. Shoshana Altschuler helped an asylee and her children with their application for permanent residence. Our client, a professor at the University of Kinshasa, was detained and tortured on multiple occasions because of her outspoken views regarding corruption in the government and her membership in the Luba tribe, an ethnic group persecuted by the government.

Silvia Salvadori is assisting an asylee with his efforts to bring his children to the United States.

Matthew Abbott helped a client for whom Kramer Levin previously obtained asylum with his successful application for permanent residence.

Ethiopia. Grace O’Hanlon and Michael Eisenkraft are representing a former child soldier from Ethiopia in his application for asylum. From the time he was thirteen, the Ethiopian government repeatedly arrested and tortured our client because of his Oromo tribal affiliation and his belief in democracy and the exercise of free speech. Our client finally obtained his release from prison only after agreeing, under threat of death, to being conscripted into the Ethiopian military as a child soldier in the civil war with Eritrea. He fled to the United States after being treated in Kenya for wounds that he suffered in Eritrea before escaping from the military. Wells Dixon and Grace O’Hanlon previously convinced the Board of Immigration Appeals to reverse an Immigration Court’s denial of our client’s application for asylum (prior to Kramer Levin’s involvement in his case), which was based on the ground that he allegedly persecuted others while fighting as a child soldier in Eritrea, by showing that the judge ignored compelling evidence that this was not the case. Kerri Ann Law, law clerk Maurice Worsley, and then-summer intern Richard Gold contributed to this success.

Haiti. Jordan Kaye, Erin Walter, and Bill Huo are seeking asylum for a man who fled Haiti to escape political persecution. Our client’s brother was abducted by the pro-Aristide Lavalas party and likely killed. Our client began receiving death threats from the Lavalas after he denounced the kidnapping of his brother over the radio. Tracy Sigal and then-summer associates Emma-Ann Deacon and Abdul-Rahman Lediju also worked on this case.

Andrew Blau and Bill Dimos, with help from Aaron Frankel and paralegal Hana Lee, provided counseling on post-asylum matters to a client for whom the firm had obtained asylum.

Jamaica. Darren Cohen, Peggy Farber, and Rebecca Porath, with the assistance of Debbie Lee, Patricia Ronan, and then-summer associates Fernando Tamayo and Jeff Ehrenpreis, have represented a 30-year-old Jamaican in his application for asylum and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture based on his homosexuality and HIV+ status. Violence against gay people in Jamaica is pervasive and often takes place with the participation or knowing acquiescence of government officials. Individuals with HIV are more likely to face life-threatening discrimination and persecution.

Malaysia. Darren Cohen, assisted by then-summer associates William Johnson and Stephanie Restifo, paralegal Anne Stackpoole, and supervisors Aaron Frankel and Michael Sternhell, obtained a grant of asylum for a transgender woman from Malaysia. The client grew up in Malaysia as a man, then went to college in the U.S., where she began to self-identify as transgender and a lesbian. After our client transitioned to living as a woman, including having sex reassignment surgery, she applied for asylum based on her fear that her life would be in danger if she were returned to Malaysia because of her sexual identity and sexual orientation.

Pakistan. Jennifer Haber and Jennifer Despins, assisted by Cesar Bello, then-summer associate Leena Khandwala, and legal assistant Lamina Vucetovic, obtained a grant of asylum for a woman from Pakistan on the ground that she was in danger of persecution based on her political, religious, and social status if forced to return to Pakistan. Our client came to the United States with a man who later refused to marry her because his parents would not consent to the marriage, even though the couple already had three sons. The man repeatedly abused our client and eventually abandoned her without means to support herself and her children. Our client’s family in Pakistan had repeatedly threatened to kill her if she returned to Pakistan for shaming the family by not allowing them to pick her husband, leaving them, and having children out of wedlock. The Kramer Levin team worked closely with Sanctuary For Families, an organization that represents victims of domestic violence, and Nassau County agencies to find financial support and affordable housing for our client. Despins and Haber were selected to receive awards for Excellence in Pro Bono Advocacy from the Sanctuary for Families' Center for Battered Women's Legal Services for their work on this case.

Republic of the Congo. Alissa Goodman is helping a man for whom the firm obtained political asylum with his application for permanent residence.

Sierra Leone. Brendan Schulman, Sasha Coffiner, and Jean-Paul Ciardullo are representing a 22-year-old Sierra Leonean refugee who survived her country's civil war and is attempting to reunite with her family in the United States. Our client's father, a former school teacher from Sierra Leone, gained asylum in the United States after being kidnapped and tortured by the dreaded Revolutionary United Front during the Sierra Leone civil war. Our client's father filed a derivative asylum petition on his daughter's behalf, but the government denied the petition and put our client into removal proceedings. Since taking the case, we have successfully argued for closure of the removal proceedings and are currently moving to re-open the derivative asylum petition.

Tibet. Emily Groendyke and Jason Stowe are representing a 42-year-old Tibetan refugee in his application for political asylum. Our client's grandparents and parents had been imprisoned and ultimately killed by the Chinese government for their participation in pro-Tibetan political activities and their adherence to their religion. Before going into hiding and escaping to New York, our client was arrested for distribution of religious literature about the Dalai Lama and was tortured in prison. Michael Sternhell is supervising this case.

Jacqueline Edwards is helping a client, for whom the firm previously obtained asylum, with various post-asylum issues, including his application for permanent residence.

Togo. Leslie Nguyen, supervised by Aaron Frankel, is assisting a female survivor of torture, for whom Kramer Levin obtained asylum in 2001, with her application for permanent residence.

Uganda. Sarah Gleit is helping a client for whom we obtained asylum with her application for permanent residence and other post-asylum issues.

Other Immigration Matters. In addition to participating in our long-standing asylum work, we have helped both nonprofit organizations and low income individuals with immigration issues.

The firm is pro bono immigration counsel to the Legal Aid Society of New York. Ted Ruthizer and Jennifer Danzo advise Legal Aid on immigration law matters for its foreign national professional staff and handle all aspects of preparing the necessary petitions, applications, and other submissions to permit talented non-citizen lawyers to be work authorized to perform legal services for the Society. Our work has included handling Labor Condition Applications, H-1B initial petitions, and H-1B extension cases, as well as handling inquiries from the General Counsel’s office when other immigration law issues.

For many years we have been pro bono immigration counsel to the Manhattan Theatre Club. We handle all of MTC’s immigration law needs, including filing petitions for outstanding foreign national actors, directors, playwrights, stage designers, and others. Ted Ruthizer, with help from legal assistant Marissa Solomon, recently obtained approval for acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson to assist with the production of his new play “Shining City” at MTC’s Biltmore Theatre.

The firm is pro bono immigration counsel for The Center for Constitutional Rights. Mark Koestler handled obtaining expedited O-1 visas for cast members of the British production of the play “Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom,” in time for the play to be presented in the Capitol for members of the United States Congress.

Ted Ruthizer, with help from legal assistant Iris Ramirez, recently prepared a pro bono H-1B petition for the International Coalition of Historical Site Museums of Conscience to facilitate the hiring of its Programs and Communications Coordinator.

The firm is also dedicated pro bono counsel for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. We advise on and process all the immigration matters for its non-citizen staff members.

In a matter for a low income individual, Matthew Dunn, with help from legal assistant Carleen Victoria, represents a Haitian national who had been sponsored by her husband for lawful permanent residence (a greencard), but whose application was jeopardized when the husband passed away. The widow was required to inform the immigration service that her husband (her sponsor) was deceased, which if not approached correctly could have caused her application to be denied and required her to depart the U.S. immediately. There is a provision in the immigration laws that permits someone to move forward on their case despite the fact that their sponsor has passed away. It is rarely invoked but we have been successful before in salvaging a case similar to the situation in which this widow now finds herself. Based on our law briefs, the immigration service has granted her work authorization and permitted her to remain in the U.S. while they are evaluating her case.

Kramer Levin lawyers also have participated as counsel for amici curiae in cases raising important immigration law issues. In one such case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit entered an order effecting the resolution advocated by Kramer Levin attorneys. The appeal was brought by a Barbados citizen who had lived in the United States since 1989 but now faces deportation due to a single criminal conviction — for possession of a handgun — in 1992. Litigation partner Eric Tirschwell, a member of the Second Circuit’s Pro Bono Panel, was asked by the court to prepare a special brief as “amicus curiae counsel.” The brief, which was submitted in October 2006, explains that ineffective assistance of counsel in deportation proceedings may constitute a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. To remedy any such violation in the case before the court, the brief recommended that the matter be remanded for further proceedings at which evidence could be heard as to what efforts, if any, the immigrant’s attorney made to seek two forms of relief from deportation. The court’s February 2007 decision ordered precisely that relief. Eric was assisted in preparation of the brief by associates Keith Donoghue and Joseph Schwartz.

In another complex immigration matter, special counsel Naomi Schorr prepared an amicus brief for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, urging the immigration agency to give a more expansive reading to a statute that exempted certain nonprofit entities, related to U.S. universities, from the annual cap on professional visas. Congress allotted only 65,000 of those visas to last an entire year, and in 2007, the numbers were used up on the very first day H filings were permitted to be made, thereby exhausting the entire H-1B quota for FY 2008. When a case filed by a school district with an affiliation with several U.S. universities was denied by the immigration agency, Kramer Levin was instrumental in arguing that the agency misinterpreted the statute, and that the exemption was intended to have a broader reach than the agency had permitted. The Administrative Appeals Office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved the case, finding that the exemption did, indeed, cover schools affiliated with U.S. universities.

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