September 17, 2007
Angela Kelley has been selected as Director of the American Immigration Law Foundation's (AILF's) Immigration Policy Center (IPC). Ms. Kelley will be responsible for all of IPC's public policy efforts on immigration - including research and public affairs. She brings to AILF more than 15 years of experience in immigration policy.
The IPC is a think tank dedicated to research and analysis of the impact of immigration and immigrants on the American economy and society. The IPC works with academics, public policy makers, community groups, and the press throughout the country. Its reports frequently are cited in the press and have been relied on by legislators and the courts as they consider immigration issues.
Ms. Kelley comes to the IPC from the National Immigration Forum. As Deputy Director at the Forum, Ms. Kelley directed its legislative, policy, and communications activities and oversaw its operations. She also appeared frequently on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, National Public Radio, and has been extensively quoted on a wide range of issues in newspapers across the country.
"This is an exciting time in immigration policy," said AILF's Executive Director Benjamin E. Johnson in announcing Ms. Kelley's selection, "and AILF is pleased to have her join our team. All of us who work on immigration issues expect the public's interest in immigration to continue growing; that makes the work of AILF and the IPC more important every day. We are fortunate to have someone with such a distinguished track record directing our policy efforts."
Ms. Kelley is the daughter of Bolivian and Colombian immigrant parents, the mother of two young girls, and lives with her husband Michael in Northern Virginia. She graduated from George Washington University's Law Center in Washington, D.C. During law school she worked at the Women's Legal Defense Fund on employment discrimination and domestic violence issues. After graduating, she was a fellow with Georgetown University's Women's Law and Public Policy Program. She then worked as a staff attorney at Ayuda, a local legal service agency in Washington D.C., where she represented battered immigrant women and children as well as refugees and immigrants in asylum hearings and other immigration matters.
Ms. Kelley's selection follows other changes at the Foundation, including the appointment in June of Benjamin E. Johnson to be the Executive Director of AILF.
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The American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) was established in 1987 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational, charitable organization. The Foundation is dedicated to increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the value of immigration to American society, and to advancing fundamental fairness and due process under the law for immigrants.
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