American civil rights and immigration lawyer
Ira J. Kurzban
is an American
civil rights
and
immigration lawyer
. He is the author of
Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook
, published by the American Immigration Council. Kurzban received widespread media coverage during the 1980s for his representation of
Haitian immigrants in Miami
, and, in the 1990s and more recently, for his representation of the Haitian government and its two-time president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
.
Kurzban is a founding partner in the law firm of Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt, P.A., of Miami, Florida, and serves as adjunct faculty member in Immigration and Nationality Law at the
University of Miami School of Law
. He is also a founding board member of
Immigrants' List
, a
political action committee
focusing on immigration issues. He was a founder of the
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
and served as board chair from 2004 to 2019.
Academic honors
[
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]
Kurzban holds J.D. and M.A. Degrees from the
University of California, Berkeley
and a B.A. with honors from
Syracuse University
, where he graduated
Phi Beta Kappa
. He also holds an honorary law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School
[1]
and is also the 2003?04 recipient of the Wasserstein Fellowship at
Harvard University Law School
.
[2]
Professional honors
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Kurzban was the first recipient of the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award,
[3]
presented by the Chief Justice of the
Florida Supreme Court
. He is also the recipient of the Lawyers of the Americas Award for his work on behalf of
human rights
in the Americas given by the
University of Miami
, The Jack Wasserman Award for excellence in federal litigation and the Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for excellence in the advancement of immigration law given by the
American Immigration Lawyers Association
, and the
Carol King
Award for his effort in immigration law given by the
National Lawyers Guild
.
In 1986, Kurzban was selected by
Newsweek
magazine in their commemorative issue on the 100th anniversary of the
Statue of Liberty
, as one of 100 American heroes for his work on behalf of immigrants.
[4]
He was also selected by
Esquire Magazine
as part of America's New Leadership Class.
[5]
Kurzban has also been named to
Who's Who in America
,
Who's Who in American Law
, and
Who's Who in the World
. He was also called a "legend in the field" and listed among the world's most highly regarded individuals in the International Who's Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers.
[6]
In 2020, he received the Leonard J. Theberge Award for Private International Law given by the
American Bar Association
for his work in immigration and international law.
Kurzban served as president (1987?88) of the
American Immigration Lawyers Association
(AILA) and has also served as the association's general counsel.
In June 2023, AILA honored Ira Kurzban with the Robert E. Juceam Founders Award, which is given from time to time to the person or entity having the most substantial impact on the field of immigration law or policy.
Litigation
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Kurzban has litigated over 50 federal cases concerning the rights of aliens, including Jean v. Nelson,
[7]
Commissioner v. Jean,
[8]
and McNary v Haitian Refugee Center, Inc.,
[9]
which he argued before the United States Supreme Court. He has also litigated numerous cases under the
Alien Tort Claims Act
and the
Torture Victim Protection Act
, including obtaining a $500 million judgment against
Jean-Claude Duvalier
, the former dictator of Haiti. He recently prevailed against the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
, after a 23-year battle, to gain U.S. citizenship for English-born rapper
Slick Rick
.
[10]
Haiti and Aristide
[
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Kurzban also served as U.S. attorney for Haiti's elected governments since 1991 (led by
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
(1991 & 1994?96),
Rene Preval
(1996-2000), and Aristide again (2000?04)). After Aristide was forced from office and cast into
exile
, Kurzban has served as the former president's personal attorney in the United States. On March 18, 2011, Aristide, accompanied by Kurzban and others, returned to Haiti.
[11]
Kurzban's involvement with the Aristide government was extremely controversial,
[12]
as U.S. Department of Justice filings revealed that Kurzban's law firm earned
[13]
nearly $5 million for its lobbying work alone during Aristide's 2001 to 2004 second term, a time during which the government was accused of serious human rights abuses and Aristide was named an "international press freedom predator"
[14]
by the press freedom group
Reporters sans frontieres
.
Publications
[
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]
Kurzban's
Sourcebook
[
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]
First published in 1990,
Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook
has become one of the most respected treatises on immigration law, particularly among attorneys, judges, and government officials involved with immigration issues.
[15]
The original 490-page edition was derived from notes Kurzban used while teaching immigration law. Now in its 18th edition, the
Sourcebook
has since grown to nearly 3,000 pages. The book has been cited by administrative tribunals,
[16]
federal courts,
[17]
and state supreme courts.
[18]
Other publications
[
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]
- "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: The Missing Debate,"
Legal Briefs on Immigration Reform
(Robinson Omnimedia Publishing, 2011)
- "Democracy and Immigration,"
Keeping Out the Other
(Columbia U. Press, 2008)
- "Restructuring the Asylum Process,"
19 San Diego L. Rev. 91
(1981?82)
References
[
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]
- ^
"Penn Law Journal - Fall 2001"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-09-07
. Retrieved
2008-07-17
.
- ^
"Past Wasserstein Fellows"
.
www.law.harvard.edu
. Archived from
the original
on 2009-11-23.
- ^
"Board Information Paper"
.
www.floridabar.org
. Archived from
the original
on 2005-10-22.
- ^
"Home of the Brave: A Hundred Heroes for Our Time,"
Newsweek
, Summer 1986 (Special Edition).
- ^
"America's New Leadership Class,"
Esquire
, December 1985.
- ^
Who's Who Legal
, "Most Highly Regarded Firms: Corporate Immigration 2011,"
http://www.whoswholegal.com/news/analysis/article/28997/most-highly-regarded-firms-corporate-immigration-2011/
, Accessed 19 October 2011.
- ^
472 U.S. 846 (1985)
- ^
496 U.S. 154 (1990)
- ^
498 U.S. 479 (1991)
- ^
TMZ,
Rap Legend Slick Rick Becomes a U.S. Citizen!
, 16-April-2016
- ^
Democracy Now! Reports On Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Historic Return to Haiti
(March 18, 2011)
- ^
Triumph of self-interest in corrupted Haiti
(November 21, 2005)
- ^
After Charles Taylor, Justice for Haiti?
(April 26, 2012)
- ^
RSF publishes updated list of international press freedom predators
(August 12, 2002)
- ^
"Immigration law 'bible' now in its 10th edition," Miami Herald, July 2, 2006, p. 3B.
- ^
See, e.g., Matter of Alaina-Martin
, 25 I&N Dec. 231 (BIA 2010);
Matter of Castillo-Bonilla
, 2008 WL 4146759 (BIA Aug. 30, 2008)
- ^
See, e.g., De La Paz v. Coy
, 786 F.3d 367 (5th Cir. 2015);
Gonzalez v. Holder
, 771 F.3d 238 (5th Cir. 2014);
U.S. v. Juarez
, 672 F.3d 381 (5th Cir. 2012);
de la Cruz v. Holder
, 399 Fed. Appx. 317 (9th Cir. 2010);
U.S. v. Adame-Orozco
, 607 F.3d 647 (10th Cir. 2010);
Viveiros v. Holder
, 692 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012);
U.S. v. Deleon-Torres
, 762 F.Supp.2d 1209 (S.D. Cal. 2011)
- ^
See, e.g. In re Garcia
, Case No. S202512 (Cal. Jan 2, 2014), at p. 2 n.1
External links
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