HLS Lecturer Anker To Receive State Award For Immigration Work

Harvard Law School (HLS) Lecturer Deborah Anker will receive the Governor's New American Appreciation Award next month for her work with refugees and asylum law.

The award, sponsored by the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI), is given to immigrants who have made significant contributions to their new home and to native-born residents whose efforts have helped newcomers succeed.

"The award is a way to celebrate the importance of immigrants to this country," said ORI spokesperson Richard Ierardi.

"[Anker is] a person who has made a significant impact in the lives of asylees," he said.

According to Ierardi, Anker will receive the award in specific recognition of her work in asylum law and for the establishment of the Immigration and Refugee Law program at the Law School.

"I'm honored, but this is not just about my work," Anker said. "It's part of a community effort."

Anker has worked in the Immigration and Refugee Clinic at the Law School and the Women Refugee Project.

"She is among the most effective advocates for expanding the rights of women to asylum because of genderrelated abuse," said Smith Professor of Law Henry Steiner, director of the Human Rights Program at the Law School.

Since 1978, Anker has litigated refugee cases before asylum adjucators at all administrative levels. For the past 15 years, she has filed amicus curiae briefs in the Supreme Court for every major refugee case.

She also authored the leading practitioner treatise in the field of U.S. asylum law, The Law of Asylum in the United States, and her articles have been cited by the Supreme Court.

Anker said yesterday that recognition of immigration issues is especially important in the current political climate.

"We are going through one of the most extreme periods of anti-immigration hate movements, which threaten to destroy what makes this country great," said Anker.

Anker will receive her award in a ceremony on October 21 at the Boston Sheraton. Nine other recipients of the award were named, all of whom will receive their awards on October 21 as well.