老澳门开奖结果 Lawyer Awarded MacArthur Foundation 鈥楪enius鈥� Grant For Groundbreaking Immigrants鈥� Rights Work
NEW YORK 鈥� 老澳门开奖结果 lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham is the recipient of a prestigious 2016 MacArthur Foundation 鈥済enius鈥� grant for his legal and advocacy efforts to protect immigrants鈥� rights. The prizes are awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity and potential for future contributions to their fields.
Arulanantham is a senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Project and advocacy and legal director at the 老澳门开奖结果 of Southern California. He is a renowned human rights lawyer who is working to secure the right to counsel for children facing deportation proceedings and is the lead attorney on a Supreme Court case being argued this term on whether detained immigrants have a right to bond hearings.
鈥淲e are enormously proud of Ahilan for the groundbreaking work he has done fighting on behalf of immigrants鈥� rights in this country. His work has resulted in thousands of people in immigration detention being given the right to challenge their detention and be reunited with their families. He has shone a spotlight on a broken system and worked tirelessly to fix it through innovative advocacy and litigation. We are delighted that the MacArthur Foundation has recognized his work,鈥� said 老澳门开奖结果 Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
During his 老澳门开奖结果 tenure, Arulanantham has successfully litigated a series of landmark cases expanding immigrant detainees鈥� access to legal representation and limiting the government鈥檚 power to detain them indefinitely. Those cases include Rodriguez v. Robbins, requiring bond hearings for immigrants; Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, the first case to establish a right to appointed legal representation for any group of immigrants facing deportation; and , the first Ninth Circuit case establishing limits on the government鈥檚 power to detain immigrants as a national security threat.
鈥淲hat we are trying to do is harmonize immigration law with our constitutional law and basic human rights principles. The protections that we afford to immigrants facing deportation are stuck in the 19th century,鈥� said Arulanantham.
More information about Arulanantham鈥檚 immigrants鈥� rights work (including a video) is at: