Kramer Levin Honored at 2020 Safe Haven Awards

On Oct. 22, Immigration Equality recognized Kramer Levin at the 2020 Safe Haven Awards presented by Marriott International. The Safe Haven Awards celebrate the strength of Immigration Equality’s clients and honor the dedication of its pro bono lawyer partners. Kramer Levin received a Safe Haven Award for our work with Immigration Equality to obtain asylum for LGBTQ and HIV-positive refugees and for filing a mandamus lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to compel USCIS to give asylum interviews to Immigration Equality clients stuck in the immigration “backlog.” USCIS recently started prioritizing scheduling asylum interviews for newly filed claims, while ignoring asylum applications that have been pending for years. Under this policy, asylum applicants who do not immediately receive an interview will wait indefinitely. Prior to filing the mandamus suit, our clients had waited at least three years for an interview, with no end in sight.  After Kramer Levin filed suit, USCIS relented and scheduled our clients for interviews. All of our clients then received asylum. The Kramer Levin mandamus team includes Intellectual Property partner Aaron Frankel, Litigation associates Michelle Ben-David, Daniel Lennard, and John M. McNulty, Land Use associate Sam Brill, Assistant Managing Attorney Samantha Ford, and paralegal Santo Cipolla.