Thank you to everyone who joined us at our 2023 Gala, Voices United: Uplifting and Transforming Communities!
What an incredible night of connecting, building community, and honoring life-changing work for immigrants and refugees throughout Minnesota.
We are so grateful for the generosity of your time, support, and dedication to ILCM’s mission. Thank you for being an ally and fiercely advocating for more just immigration laws and policies that benefit immigrants, refugees, and the broader community.
With your unwavering support for ILCM, we stand ready to assist immigrants and refugees in all situations, knowing you are there with us every step of the way.
Highlights of ILCM’s first 25 years and our vision for the future
Founders’ Awards honoring those who have been consistent and unwavering partners to ILCM
Remarks from Oballa Oballa, former ILCM client and Austin City Councilmember
A performance by Cantus
“Faegre Drinker is committed to supporting New Americans and has been proud to support ILCM by providing pro bono service to hundreds of clients over the past 25 years, helping those individuals to become citizens, seek immigration status and keep their families together. Our firm also proudly provides financial support to ILCM, which we believe is essential to supporting the pro bono program as well as the talented staff who provide expert service to immigrants throughout Minnesota every day. We congratulate ILCM on 25 years of serving Minnesota, and look forward to another 25 years of partnering together in this important work.”
A special thanks to Twelve Plus Media for producing this video,Pizzeria Lola for donating gift cards that will be raffled off throughout the evening, and to Kate Arneson for designing our event graphics!
On May 20, at 7:00pm we spoke with Sun Yung Shin, editor of the new anthology What We Hunger For: Refugee & Immigrant Stories About Food and Family, and Roy G. Guzmán and SaymoukdaDuangphouxay Vongsay, two of the anthology’s contributors. We discussed their complicated, poignant, funny, difficult, joyful, and ongoing relationships to food, cooking, and eating.Reserve your copy of What We Hunger For at Moon Palace Books here.
We were thrilled to host Sun Yung, Saymoukda, and Roy! If you couldn’t join us, you can watch a recording of the event here!
We also invite you to join us in making “Lao Beef Jerky” from SaymoukdaDuangphouxay Vongsay’s piece “The Summer of Lao Beef Jerky at Rivoli.” Find the recipe here – ingredients can be found at Seward Community Co-op!
Sun Yung
신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, Korea, during 박 정 희 Park Chung-hee’s military dictatorship, and grew up in the Chicago area. She is the editor of the new collection: What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories About Food and Family and the best-selling anthology A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. She is the author of poetry collections The Wet Hex (2022), Unbearable Splendor (finalist for the 2017 PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry, winner of the 2016 Minnesota Book Award for poetry); Rough, and Savage; and Skirt Full of Black (winner of the 2007 Asian American Literary Award for poetry), co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, and author of bilingual illustrated book for children Cooper’s Lesson and the coauthor with John Coy, Shannon Gibney, and Diane Wilson of Where We Come From, an illustrated book for children (2022). She is also a craniosacral therapist and lives in Minneapolis where she co-directs the community organizationPoetry Asylum with poet Su Hwang. Find her jewelry at Chicago Avenue FireArts Center.
SaymoukdaDuangphouxay Vongsay is a Lao American poet and playwright. Her poetry appears in journals, magazines, anthologies, and more. Her plays have been presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Theater Mu, Lower Depth Theatre, and other venues. She is a 2020–23 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation National Playwright in Residence.
Roy G. Guzmán is the author of Catrachos (Graywolf Press, 2020) and the chapbook Restored Mural for Orlando (Queerodactyl Press, 2016). A 2019 National Endowment for the Arts fellow, they are an adjunct instructor and a PhD candidate in cultural studies and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.
THANK YOU to everyone who made our October 8, 2020 Perspectives series premiere a success!
Special thanks to Jia Lynn Yang and Ibrahim Hirsi.
On October 8, 2020, ILCM launched a new event series called “Perspectives: Writers on Migration.” The series will feature various authors whose work focuses on immigration. For our inaugural event, we were proud to host Deputy National Editor at the New York Times, Jia Lynn Yang, speaking about her new book, “One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965.” We were also excited that she was joined in conversation by local writer and journalist Ibrahim Hirsi.
Jia Lynn Yang is the Deputy National Editor of the New York Times and author of the recently published One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965. She was previously deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Trump and Russia. Before becoming an editor, Jia Lynn wrote about business and economics at the Post and at Fortune magazine for over a decade.
Ibrahim Hirsi is a reporter at Sahan Journal, where he covers immigrant communities and the politics and policies that affect them. He was previously a staff writer for MinnPost and MPR News. Ibrahim got his start in journalism at the Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper. He’s currently a Ph.D. student in immigration history at the University of Minnesota.
I first want to thank The Immigrant Law Center for all their great work and especially for their partnership with my Senate office – particularly with our constituent service office. Miranda Morgan Lilla, who continues to head that office under Senator Smith, is the real hero in the Mushkaad Abdi story.
The four-year-old had been living in a refugee camp in Uganda, separated from her mother and two sisters living in Minnesota. Miranda had heard her story from her mother’s citizenship class teacher in July 2016, and began working with the Department of State, and Lutheran Social Services agreed to sponsor Mushkaad in August of that year. After months of Miranda’s effort, Mushkaad was scheduled to arrive on January 31, 2017.
On January 27th President Trump issued his (illegal) Muslim ban executive order, and it appeared that instead of being reunited with her family, Mushkaad would remain separated indefinitely. Miranda got to work on her end, and we called a press conference in Minneapolis the cruelty of the President’s executive order, where we reconnected with Mushkaad’s family. I called then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and got his assurance that Mushkaad would be able to make the trip.
Working with the Customs and Bureau Protection Agency, Miranda cleared the way for Mushkaad to make the trip to Minnesota via Abu Dhabi and Chicago, and she was reunited with her mother and three sisters in early February 2017. A few weeks later, I met Mushkaad, a bubbly four-year old, grinning happily in her mother’s embrace.
Congratulations to our 2018 award winners! At the 2018 Gala, we recognize and honor:
2018 National Advocate of the Year: The Anti-Refugee/Muslim Ban Emergency Collaboration
2018 State Advocate of the Year: Bill Blazar
2018 Volunteer of the Year: Lourdes Moore
2018 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year: Meghan Elliott
2018 Pro Bono Partner of the Year: Cancellation of Removal Project Pilot Participants
2018 National Advocate of the Year
The Anti-Refugee/Muslim Ban Emergency Collaboration
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to honor all of those who joined us in challenging the first Muslim ban in January 2017. Their prompt response and support reunited a family and testified to the continuing and widespread support of refugees and to the strong opposition to discrimination against Muslims, both here in Minnesota and across the country.
A four-year-old girl made headlines around the world when President Trump’s first travel ban stopped her at an airport in Uganda, preventing her from joining her mother and two sisters in Minnesota. That’s when ILCM joined forces with some of the most experienced immigration experts and litigators in the state, marshalling legal resources to reunite the child with her mother and sisters. Their efforts paid off on February 2 when, finally cleared for travel, the four-year-old girl arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The Anti-Refugee/Muslim Ban Emergency Collaboration, which made it possible for Mushkaad to rejoin her mother and sisters, is honored as ILCM’s National Advocate for 2018. Working together, under extreme time and political pressure, this coalition brought Mushkaad home to Minnesota. We honor coalition members:
Advocates for Human Rights
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid
University of St. Thomas Law School
University of Minnesota Law School’s James H. Binger Center for New Americans
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to recognize Bill Blazar, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Business Development at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, as our 2018I ILCM State Advocate of the Year.
Bill has led the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce to become an advocate for immigrants and a statewide force for better understanding of the contributions that immigrants make to Minnesota’s economy. He directs Grow Minnesota!, the Chamber’s statewide business retention and expansion program. He also represents the Minnesota business community on several task forces and study groups, such as the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Labor Relations Policy Committee. As a leader in the Minnesota Business Immigration Coalition, he speaks out often and forcefully about Minnesota’s economic need for immigrants, and about the need for immigration reform.
Among the many attacks leveled at immigrants are charges that they cost the state money, and that they are a burden on taxpayers. Bill refutes those claims, in articles, in speaking engagements, in panels across the state. Using evidence and data, he responds to fear and misinformation, pointing out the contributions that immigrants make and the ways in which Minnesota needs their talents and contributions. He explains that Minnesota needs immigrants not only as workers, but also as entrepreneurs, consumers and connectors to the world economy.
Bill’s leadership is trusted in the business community and his advocacy for immigrants makes a clear and convincing economic case for their importance to Minnesota. In a time when myths and untruths abound, Bill Blazar provides factual information and a reasoned case for the role of immigrants in growing Minnesota’s economy.
2018 Volunteer of the Year
Lourdes Moore
Lourdes Moore
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to honor Lourdes Moore as its 2018 ILCM Volunteer of the Year. Lourdes began volunteering in February 2017, feeling the need to “do something after the election.” She connected to ILCM through her sons, one of whom is a lawyer who had worked with the Center for New Americans at the University of Minnesota Law School, while another had interned at ILCM. Besides her sons’ recommendations, she said, “I was born in Cuba and was a refugee myself at the age of four,” so she felt a connection to ILCM’s work with immigrants and refugees.
Lourdes works with the Detention Project, answering phone calls from detainees and their families one morning a week. Besides explaining the program, answering questions, reassuring them about the process, and sending out information, she checks hearing dates weekly, sometimes does country research for asylum cases, and assists with paperwork and keeping the list of pro bono and private attorneys up to date.
ILCM attorney Robyn Meyer-Thompson says Lourdes exercises tremendous patience in working with detained clients and their loved ones. She has a calm demeanor and genuine empathy that is evident to anyone who interacts with her. Since our Detention Line may be the first resource that a detainee or their loved one contacts, this initial interaction should be as positive and informative as possible. Lourdes takes time with each caller to make sure any questions are answered as fully as possible while helping the individual to feel reassured. On top of humbly and compassionately completing her tasks, Lourdes asks for additional ways she can help. She deserves this recognition for her continual service to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Though the work can be very emotionally taxing and disheartening at times, Lourdes always comes in with a smile on her face, ready to help.
2018 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year
Meghan Elliott
Meghan Elliott
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to recognize Megan Elliot as our Pro Bono Attorney of the Year for 2018.
Meghan has volunteered with the ILCM Pro Bono Project since 2012, and assisted on 20 pro bono matters at ILCM during that time. She began her pro bono work with ILCM while an attorney at Ballard Spahr, providing pro bono representation to U Visa applicants through ILCM’s Crime Victim Relief Project. Now in-house counsel at Viracon, Inc., Meghan has continued her pro bono work with ILCM, assisting clients with a wide array of immigration law needs. Through various ILCM Pro Bono Projects, Meghan has provided full representation to clients seeking citizenship, U Visas, U Visa extensions, U Visa Adjustments, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and DACA Renewals, as well as brief services to immigrant detainees facing removal proceedings. She has handled several complex matters, guiding clients through crisis situations and serious challenges in their cases.
Through her years of volunteering and extensive pro bono case work Meghan has provided invaluable services to the community. Meghan has also continuously shown herself to be a leader in her pro bono work. She has volunteered to participate in two pilot projects for ILCM. In 2014, when ILCM launched a new project assisting U Visa holders applying for permanent resident status, Meghan was part of the first group of volunteers to take on cases through the project. This year Meghan helped ILCM launch our Community Defense Pro Bono Project Pilot; a project through which volunteers travel to local immigration detention facilities to provide legal screenings, advice, and brief services to immigrant detainees in removal proceedings. She responds to every call for volunteer assistance, and provides the highest level of representation, showing her deep dedication to pro bono work and immigrant rights. We are honored to work with her as a volunteer, and deeply grateful for her service to immigrants and refugees in Minnesota.
2018 Pro Bono Partner of the Year
Cancellation of Removal Project Pilot Participants
The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to recognize the Cancellation of Removal Project Pilot participants, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Robins Kaplan LLP, Ballard Spahr LLP, and Maslon LLP, as the 2018 Pro Bono Partners of the Year.
With 2017’s massive increase in enforcement actions against immigrants and refugees by the Department of Homeland Security, hundreds of immigrants in detention in Minnesota face possible deportation every day. Isolated from family and resources, and caught in a system where their due process rights are under attack, these individuals face an often-insurmountable battle in accessing services and defending themselves against removal. As part of the response to this crisis, ILCM expanded our Pro Bono Project to include removal defense work in 2017, beginning with the launch of the Cancellation of Removal Project Pilot. Four law firms, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Robins Kaplan LLP, Ballard Spahr LLP, and Maslon LLP, responded to ILCM’s call for assistance and provided pro bono support to help launch and develop the project. To date volunteers from the partner firms have taken on representation for five detained clients through the pilot.
Removal defense casework in the current environment is extremely challenging. Volunteer attorneys are not simply accepting a pro bono case; they are taking on a fight for a client’s freedom, family, and basic safety. Cases for detained clients can be time consuming, emotionally challenging, and complex, involving both legal and serious logistical hurdles. Attorneys participating in the Cancellation of Removal pilot have taken on these challenges, and made sacrifices to provide zealous representation to their pro bono clients. They are not only providing an irreplaceable service to each client, but are also pushing back on the silencing of detainees everywhere, and helping ILCM to build legal service programming for many others facing detention. With this award we honor their immense dedication and incredible work.
Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Music by Balung Getih
Silent Auction
Keynote speaker: Dr. Ayaz Virji
Awards presentation
Music and Dancing with Salsa del Soul
Raffle
John Keller, Executive Director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota; Bill Mahlum, ILCM co-founder and board member; Joseph Levin, Jr., co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center
Joseph Levin, Jr., co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was the evening’s featured speaker.
Ibrahim Hirsi of MinnPost moderated a panel discussion with Joseph Levin, Minnesota State Senator Patricia Torres Ray, ILCM board member Maya Salah, and ILCM Executive Director John Keller
The evening’s talk and panel discussion were preceded by time for socializing and hors d’oeuvres
Matt Entenza and Jeannie Fox Entenza, sponsors for the evening, introduced the event.
Ibrahim Hirsi, Joseph Levin, and Senator Patricia Torres Ray in the panel discussion
The Minnesota History Center provided space for the event.
