8:30AM    REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST

8:45AM    WELCOME

Karen Grisez
Special Counsel, Public Service Counsel
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn

9:00AM    SESSION I

Immigrants and Islam in the United States and Western Europe: Barriers to Inclusion and the Implications for US and European Integration Trajectories and Policy Development

Moderator
Douglas T. Gurak
Professor Emeritus of Development Sociology
Cornell University
Editor of the International Migration Review
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Keynote
Nancy Foner
Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center
City University of New York

Respondent
Jamie Winders
Chair and O’Hanley Faculty Scholar and Professor, Department of Geography
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

10:20AM    BREAK

10:40AM    SESSION II

Rethinking US Immigration Policy from a Global Perspective

Moderator
Donald Kerwin
Executive Director
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Panelists
Michael Doyle
Director, Columbia Global Policy Initiative and University Professor
Columbia University

Fei Guo
Associate Professor of Demography, Department of Marketing and Management
Macquarie University

John Harbeson
Professor Emeritus of Political Science at City College and the Graduate Center
City University of New York

Sonia Plaza
Senior Economist, KNOMAD, Trade and Competitiveness
The World Bank

12:00PM  LUNCH (Location: City Hall Room on the 24th Floor)

1:00PM    SESSION III

Revisiting Past Blue Ribbon Commissions on Immigration: Their Assumptions, Findings and Recommendations, and What Has Changed in the Interim

Moderator
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn

Keynote
Susan Martin
Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emeritus of International Migration
Georgetown University
Chair of Knowledge Partnership in Migration and Development (KNOMAD)
The World Bank

Respondents
Austin Fragomen
Chairman of the Executive Committee
Fragomen Worldwide

Charles Wheeler
Director of Training and Legal Support
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

2:00PM   SESSION IV

Addressing the Substance of Legislation and Executive Action for a 21st Century Immigration Policy

Moderator
Michele Pistone
Director of the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services and Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Co-Managing Editor, Journal on Migration and Human Security
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Panelists
Phyllis Coven

Karen Grisez
Special Counsel, Public Service Counsel
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Lynn Shotwell
Executive Director
Council for Global Immigration

Shannon Lederer
Director of Immigration Policy
AFL-CIO

Robert Warren
Senior Visiting Fellow
Center for Migration Studies of New York

3:25PM    BREAK

3:40PM   SESSION V

Prospects for Immigration Reform:  A Discussion of the Opportunities and Challenges in the Short-Term and Beyond

Moderator
Kevin Appleby
Senior Director of International Migration Policy
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Panelists
Tara Magner

Ann Morse
Program Director, Immigrant Policy Project
National Conference of State Legislatures

J. Kevin Appleby
Senior Director of International Migration Policy
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Kevin Appleby is the senior director of international migration policy for the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) and the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN). Prior to joining CMS and SIMN, Mr. Appleby served as the director of migration policy and public affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for more than 16 years. He has also worked as deputy director of the Maryland Catholic Conference in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Appleby has testified before Congress on immigration issues and represented the US Catholic bishops on these issues at public events and with the media. He is co-editor of the volume, On Strangers No Longer: Perspectives on the US-Mexican Catholic Bishop’s Pastoral Letter on Migration. Mr. Appleby worked for Senator Russell Long of Louisiana and select committees of the US Senate, including the Senate Select Committee on the Iran-Contra Affair. He received his BA from the University of Notre Dame, an MA in international affairs from George Washington University, and a law degree from the University of Maryland.

Phyllis Coven

Phyllis A. Coven entered on duty as district director for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) New York District Office on March 24, 2014. Ms. Coven has two decades of experience working for both the federal government and international organizations, leading a wide range of immigration and refugee initiatives. She is known internationally for her work on refugee and migration emergencies, and is credited with having created a group methodology for resettlement which now accounts for more than one half of the referrals that the United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) makes to resettlement partners. She has worked for USCIS, UNHCR, Immigration Naturalization Services (INS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the International Organization for Migration. Ms. Coven began her federal service as a Deputy Associate Attorney General at DOJ where she was responsible for the immigration portfolio. She later served as the director of INS’s Office of International Affairs (1995-1998), where she was the key policy and operational official responsible for implementing the reform of the United States asylum system. She also served as the primary point of contact with the National Security Council for DOJ and INS in handling the Haitian and Cuban boat emergencies during the mid-90s. In addition, Ms. Coven played a pivotal role in creating the first Regional consultative process on migration, and established unprecedented cooperation with Mexico and Central American governments on returns.

Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn

The Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio is a Roman Catholic Bishop. He has led the Diocese of Brooklyn since October 2003. He has been a forceful voice on behalf of migrants and immigrants since his Ordination to the Priesthood in 1970. Bishop DiMarzio received a master’s degree in social work from Fordham University, and a doctorate in social work research and policy from Rutgers University. In 1976, Bishop DiMarzio was appointed refugee resettlement director and the director of the Office of Migration at Catholic Community Services for the Archdiocese of Newark. In 1985, he was appointed executive director of Migration and Refugee Services for the US Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington and, in 1986, was named Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II. In 1999, he was appointed Sixth Bishop of Camden. He frequently testified on matters affecting migrants and immigrants before the committees of the US House of Representatives. From 2003 to 2005, Bishop DiMarzio served as the US representative on the Global Commission on International Migration, a 19-member body sponsored by the United Nations. The Bishop also serves as board chair for the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) as well as the Migration Policy Institute.

Michael Doyle
Director, Columbia Global Policy Initiative and University Professor
Columbia University

Michael W. Doyle is the director of the Columbia Global Policy Initiative and University Professor at Columbia University, affiliated with the School of International and Public Affairs, the Department of Political Science, and the Law School.  Doyle previously served as assistant secretary-general and special adviser for policy planning to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General (SG) Kofi Annan.

In the 1990s, Professor Doyle was a member of a policy advisory committee for the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Madame Sadako Ogata. In 2003, he chaired a group that produced a report on migration for SG Kofi Annan.  From 2006 to 2013, Professor Doyle was an individual member and the chair of the UN Democracy Fund, a fund established in 2005 by the UN General Assembly to promote grass-roots democratization around the world. He currently chairs the board of the International Peace Institute.

At Columbia University, he co-directs a migration project with Alex Aleinikoff and Gregory Maniatis that organized a private sector summit on migration and refugees on September 20, 2016. They are preparing, together with an international commission, a Model International Mobility Treaty that defines the rights and responsibilities of individual who cross borders and the states they leave, transit, and enter.

Nancy Foner
Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Hunter College and Graduate Center
City University of New York

Nancy Foner is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Dr. Foner focuses particularly on the subject of immigration. She has done extensive research comparing the challenges of immigration today with earlier periods in the United States, as well as in North America and Western Europe. She is the author or editor of 18 books, as well as more than 100 articles and book chapters. Additionally, she was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on the Integration of Immigrants into US Society, a former chair of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association, and the recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Career Award from the International Migration Section. Dr. Foner holds a BA from Brandeis University and a PhD from the University of Chicago.

Austin Fragomen
Chairman of the Executive Committee
Fragomen Worldwide

Austin T. Fragomen is chairman of the Executive Committee at Fragomen Worldwide. With offices in 20 countries, Fragomen Worldwide is the largest law firm providing immigration services. Mr. Fragomen is coauthor of Immigration Fundamentals, Immigration Law and Business, and Immigration Procedures Handbook, a renowned series of immigration handbooks that provide information on the best practices and latest developments in the field of immigration. He serves as chairman of the Business Advisory Group to the Global Forum on Migration and Development, a United Nations affiliate; and has participated as a global immigration expert in meetings of the Forum on International Migration, the International Organization of Migration, Migration Policy Institute, UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, and Side Meeting of Global Forum on Migration and Development.  Mr. Fragomen serves as a member on the board of trustees of the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), a board member for Jesuit Refugee Services, an editorial board member of the International Migration Review, a distinguished author for Thomson Reuters/West, and the chairman of the Board of Directors of The Council for Global Immigration, an affiliate of Society for Human Resource Management. He has testified before the US Congress on a range of immigration issues and served as staff counsel to the US House of Representatives subcommittee on immigration, refugees, and international law. Mr. Fragomen has taught as an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law, and was chairman of the City Bar Justice Center of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He has been recognized by Chambers USA, Who’s Who Legal, Best Lawyers in America and New York Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in New York Metro Area” Super Lawyer and Who’s Who in American Law as a leader in the field of immigration law. Mr. Fragomen holds a BA from Georgetown University and a JD from Case Western Reserve School of Law.

Fei Guo
Associate Professor of Demography, Department of Marketing and Management
Macquarie University

Fei Guo is an associate professor of demography in the Department of Marketing and Management at Macquarie University and serves as an associate editor for the International Migration Review, a publication of Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). Since joining Macquarie University in 2002, Dr. Guo’s research has been supported by a large grant from the Ford Foundation to study migration and urban poverty in China, a Discovery Project grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) to study rural migrant labor in large Chinese cities, and a Macquarie Enterprises Partnership research grant to study demographic changes and residential housing markets in Australia. She has been widely published in such journals as Asian and Pacific Migration Review, Habitat International, China Perspectives, and Journal of Asian Public Policy. She has co-edited or written five books on the topic of migration. Dr. Guo holds an MA and PhD from the University of Hawaii.

Karen Grisez
Special Counsel, Public Service Counsel
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Karen Grisez is full-time Public Service Counsel in the Washington, DC office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. In that capacity, she supports the Firm’s attorneys in a variety of subject matter areas, including social security disability, landlord/tenant, family law, veterans benefits, and other civil litigation. Since the mid-1990s, Ms. Grisez has increasingly specialized in immigration matters. She has served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Commission on Immigration, is a member of the Advisory Board of the ABA’s Immigration Justice Project in San Diego, and is a former co-chair of the ABA Section of Litigation’s Immigration Litigation Committee. She is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, serves on its national Pro Bono Committee, and is a former Trustee of the American Immigration Council. Ms. Grisez has been a volunteer case screener for the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) Pro Bono Project for over a decade. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, the board of directors of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and the Washington Council of Lawyers.

Ms. Grisez received her BA degree summa cum laude from the University of Maryland in 1997 and her JD from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America in 1990. She has successfully represented numerous asylum applicants and other immigrants before the Asylum Offices, Immigration Judges, the BIA and in federal court and litigates a variety of other immigration matters. She also speaks frequently on asylum and other immigration-related topics.

Douglas T. Gurak
Professor Emeritus of Development Sociology
Cornell University
Editor, International Migration Review
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Douglas T. Gurak is professor emeritus of development sociology at Cornell University. Prior to joining Cornell, he spent 15 years researching and teaching in New York City at the Center for Policy Research and Fordham University’s Hispanic Research Center and Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Dr. Gurak received a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. At Cornell, he served as the director of the Population and Development Program, the Polson Institute for Global Development, and the Graduate Field of Development Sociology. Since 2010, Dr. Gurak has been a team member of the Institute for the Social Sciences’ interdisciplinary theme project, “Immigration: Settlement, Integration, and Membership.” His research focuses on the process of human migration, and he is currently involved in the investigation of processes shaping the internal migration of foreign-born persons in the United States to non-traditional immigration destinations. This research is supported by the Russell Sage Foundation and involves working with confidential census data at the New York Census Research Data Center. In November 2014, Dr. Gurak was appointed as the editor of the International Migration Review published by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS).

John Harbeson
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
The City College of New York

John W. Harbeson is Professor of Political Science Emeritus at City College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, the most recent of which is the sixth edition of Africa in World Politics: Constructing Political and Economic Order (Westview, December, 2016). The author of ninety articles and book chapters, he is also a regular contributor to the Nairobi Law Monthly in Kenya. He has been a professorial lecturer in the Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University and the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He has tours of duty in the US Agency for International Development, from 1993-1995 as Regional Democracy and Governance Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, and from 1979-1982 as social science analyst in the Bureau of Science and Technology. He serves on the advisory council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars African Program. He has been a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow in the US Institute of Peace. He is the inaugural recipient of the John Harbeson Distinguished Africanist award of the African Politics Conference Group section of the American Political Science Association.

Shannon Lederer
Director of Immigration Policy
AFL-CIO

Shannon Lederer is the director of immigration policy at the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). As director, she coordinates the federation’s immigration agenda in activities ranging from legislative advocacy to field mobilization to organizing and defending immigrant workers. Her research has focused on employment-based temporary work visa programs, the international labor recruitment industry, and the role of global unions in promoting the rights of migrant workers. Ms. Lederer is currently a member of the governing board for the Alliance for Ethical International Recruitment Practices and a board member for Farmworker Justice. Prior to her advocacy work at AFL-CIO, Ms. Lederer served as the Associate Director of the International Affairs Department for the American Federation of Techers. Ms. Lederer holds a BA from Northwestern University and a MS from the University of Massachusetts.

Donald Kerwin
Executive Director
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Donald M. Kerwin, Jr. is executive director of the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). The organization is an educational institute/think tank devoted to the study of international migration, to the promotion of understanding between immigrants and receiving communities, and to public policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees, and newcomers. CMS was established in 1964 by the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles, Scalabrinians. It is a member of the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN), which consists of more than 270 organizations that serve, safeguard, and advocate for migrants throughout the world. Mr. Kerwin previously worked for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) between 1992 and 2008, serving as its executive director (ED) for 15 years and its interim ED for six months in late 2012 and early 2013. Upon his arrival at CLINIC in 1992, Mr. Kerwin coordinated CLINIC’s political asylum project for Haitians. CLINIC, a subsidiary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), is a public interest legal corporation that supports a national network of several hundred charitable legal programs for immigrants. Between 2008 and 2011, Mr. Kerwin served as vice president for programs at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), where he wrote on immigration, labor standards, and refugee policy issues. He has also served as: an associate fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center where he co-directed Woodstock’s Theology of Migration Project; a non-resident senior fellow at MPI; a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Immigration Task Force; a board member for Jesuit Refugee Services-USA, the Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, and the Border Network for Human Rights; an advisor to the USCCB’s Committee on Migration; and a member of numerous advisory groups. Mr. Kerwin writes and speaks extensively on immigration policy, refugee protection, access to justice, national security, and other issues.

Tara Magner

Tara Magner is director of the Chicago Commitment at the MacArthur Foundation. Previously, Ms. Magner served as a program officer in US Programs, focusing on migration and policy research. Prior to her work at the MacArthur Foundation, she served as senior counsel to the Office of Senator Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In this role, her responsibilities included immigration, refugee protection, human rights, and national security matters, among others. After the 2008 election, Ms. Magner was a member of President Obama’s Transition Policy Working Group on Immigration. She has also served as a commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration; director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center; and deputy director of the Winston Foundation. She has published articles with MIT Press, the International Journal of Refugee Law, and the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. Ms. Magner holds a BA from Wesleyan University and JD from Georgetown Law.

Susan Martin
Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emeritus of International Migration
Georgetown University
Chair of Knowledge Partnership in Migration and Development (KNOMAD)
The World Bank

Susan Martin is the Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emeritus in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She previously served as the director of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. She currently serves as the chair of the Thematic Working Group on Environmental Change and Migration for the Knowledge Partnership in Migration and Development (KNOMAD) at the World Bank. Before coming to Georgetown, Dr. Martin served as the executive director of the US Commission on Immigration Reform, established by legislation to advise Congress and the President on US immigration and refugee policy. Her most recent book publications include International Migration: Evolving Trends from the Early Twentieth Century to the Present, Migration and Humanitarian Crises: Causes, Consequences and Responses and A Nation of Immigrants. Dr. Martin received her MA and PhD in the history of American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. She previously taught at Brandeis University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Ann Morse
Program Director, Immigrant Policy Project
National Conference of State Legislatures

Ann Morse is the program director for the Immigrant Policy Project at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). She currently serves on the NCSL Executive Committee Task Force on Immigration and the States, working to provide state lawmakers with research and analysis on federal immigration policy, state and local innovative programs, and state legislation related to immigrants. Ms. Morse was awarded the Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowship in Public Policy in 2007 and conducted comparative research on immigration and integration policies in New Zealand and the United States. She has served on a number of immigration integration advisory boards and currently is a member of the Jannus Board of Directors in Boise, Idaho. Ms. Morse holds a BA and MA from George Washington University.

Michele Pistone
Professor of Law and Director of the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee, and Emigrant Services (CARES)
Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Co-Managing Editor, Journal on Migration and Human Security
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Michele Pistone is a co-managing editor of the Center for Migration Studies of New York’s  Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS) and has written extensively on immigration and refugee protection, including on issues related to detention of asylum seekers, the one-year deadline for asylum applications, expedited removal, overseas refugee resettlement, as well as on the migration of skilled and educated migrants.  Her book, Stepping Out of the Brain Drain: Applying Catholic Social Thought in a New Era of Migration (Lexington Books), which she co-authored with John J. Hoeffner, as well as other articles and book chapters, looks at migration through the lens of Catholic Social Thought. Professor Pistone is also professor of law at Villanova University School of Law, where she has taught since 1999. At Villanova, she founded the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee, and Emigrant Services (CARES). Through CARES, Professor Pistone works with law students to provide free legal representation to asylum seekers and others fleeing persecution and violence.

Sonia Plaza
Senior Economist, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice
The World Bank

Sonia Plaza is a senior economist in the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank. She is also the co-chair of the Diaspora Thematic working group of Knowledge Partnership in Migration and Development (KNOMAD). She has been awarded 24 honors from the World Bank; and has written or edited 14 books and authored or co-authored 16 professional reports, including a major analytical survey of migration and development for the Africa region. Ms. Plaza is the co-author of the World Bank paper on “Migration and Development: A Role for the World Bank Group” that outlines a role for the World Bank Group and international financial institutions (IFIs) to take on in this area, thus complementing the New York Declaration on Migration and Refugees. Recently, she penned a background paper for the World Development Report 2016 on “Technological Innovations and Remittance Costs,” which was featured in three different chapters in the report. Her research interests include international migration, labor mobility, trade, and the future of labor. Ms. Plaza holds an economics degree from University of Lima, a MS from University of Pennsylvania, and a MA from Yale University.

Lynn Shotwell
Executive Director
Council for Global Immigration

Lynn Shotwell is the executive director of the Council for Global Immigration (CFGI), the world’s leading network dedicated to advancing employment-based immigration. Passionate about advocating sensible policies to promote the global exchange of talent and ideas, Ms. Shotwell has been an active leader in a number of organizations. She currently is appointed to the European Commission Expert Group on Economic Migration, is immediate past-chair of the Alliance for International Exchange and has served on the B20 Employment Task Force and Compete America. She has testified before the US Congress, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developemtn, the World Trade Organization, the Global Forum on Migration and Development and has interviewed on various television and radio shows. Prior to joining CFGI, Ms. Shotwell practiced immigration law at Arent Fox. She graduated with distinction with a BA in International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and received her law degree from the University of Michigan.

Robert Warren
Senior Visiting Fellow
Center for Migration Studies of New York

Robert Warren is a senior visiting fellow at the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). He served as a demographer for 34 years with the United States Census Bureau and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), serving as the director of INS’s Statistics Division from 1986 to 1995. Mr. Warren has been called to testify before Congress concerning the estimation of undocumented immigration and has served as an expert witness for the Department of Justice on the issue of educating undocumented children (Plyler v. Doe). Additionally, he was the US representative at United Nations meetings on immigration statistics in Geneva in May 1986 and February 1991, and was an advisor to the US Commission on Agricultural Workers in 1992. Mr. Warren holds an MSc from Indiana University.

Charles Wheeler
Director of Training and Legal Support
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Charles Wheeler is the Director of Training and Legal Support for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc (CLINIC), where he manages support and advocacy work on immigration law and related issues affecting immigrants. For the past thirty-five years, he has practiced and taught immigration law. Prior to his work at CLINIC, Mr. Wheeler directed the National Immigration Law Center for more than a decade. He has served on boards of the National Immigration Forum and National Immigration Projects of the National Lawyers Guild, among others. Mr. Wheeler holds a JD from University of Maryland School of Law.

Jamie Winders
Chair and O’Hanley Faculty Scholar and Professor
Department of Geography
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University

Jamie Winders is an O’Hanley Faculty Scholar and the chair of the Department of Geography at Syracuse University. She specializes in cultural and social geography and international migration. She has contributed to the volume The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography. In addition, she has published a book entitled Nashville in the New Millennium: Immigrant Settlement, Urban Transformation, and Social Belonging. Currently, she serves on the editorial board for the International Migration Review and Journal of Cultural Geography. Dr. Winders holds a PhD from University of Kentucky.

Nancy Foner

Fei Guo

Sonia Plaza

Robert Warren