MISSION
Immigrant's List is dedicated to reforming our broken immigration system, stopping anti-immigrant policies, and electing pro-reform candidates to office.
HISTORY
Immigrants' List was founded in 2006 by six immigration lawyers to support pro-immigration candidates for office. As the first pro-immigration political action committee in the country, we've led the fight for change.
OUR ISSUES
Immigrants' List is working to reform our broken immigration systems because true reform means helping to grow our economy while keeping families and communities together and bringing otherwise law-abiding residents out of the shadows. This year, we are fighting to keep elected officials in Congress and the new administration accountable for the promises they made and fight to end any and all policies that have created a culture of fear in our immigrant communities.
View here a more detailed list of our legislative policy priorities
OUR BOARD
ROYAL BERG
Royal F. Berg is a graduate of Bradley University, and the John Marshall Law School. He is a sole practitioner, who has practiced immigration law in Chicago since 1984. He has served as the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, and of the Litigation Committee of the Chicago Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. (AILA). He served for six years as an elected Director of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). He also served for three years as the Chair of the Liaison between AILA and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and as a member of AILA’s Liaison Committee with the General Counsel of the (former) Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mr. Berg has also served as the Chair of the Greater Chicago Chapter of AILA, and as Chair of the Immigration and Nationality Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. He is a founding Board Member of Immigrants’ List, a pro-immigrant, pro-immigration political action committee formed in 2006. He is also a Board member of the Farm Workers and Landscapers Advocacy Project and the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death penalty.
Mr. Berg is a frequent lecturer and author in the field of immigration law. He has been a guest speaker at two national conferences of the United States Immigration Judges. Mr. Berg has represented immigrants and refugees in a number of complex cases litigated before the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the United States District Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Berg represented Janina Wasilewski for her immigration case, which was depicted in the award winning documentary "Tony and Janina’s American Wedding-A Deportation Love Story."
SUI CHUNG
Sui Chung practices with Immigration Law & Litigation Group in Miami, Florida with a focus in removal defense and appellate litigation. She is the recipient of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Michael Maggio Award after she established the Krome Mental Incompetency Project. She was co-counsel in Hernandez v. State, the lead case in Florida addressing an immigrant’s right to effective representation of counsel in criminal proceedings, and counsel for Enrique from award-winning novel, Enrique’s Journey. Ms. Chung is the Immediate Past President of the AILA South Florida Chapter and Vice Chair of AILA National's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Liaison Committee. She also serves on the boards of the American Immigration Council, Immigrants’ List PAC and Immigrants' List Civic Action, and is Vice-President of the board of Catholic Legal Services. Ms. Chung began her career at the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Board of Immigration Appeals through the United States Department of Justice Attorney General Honors Program. She received a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University School of Law, and Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from Oberlin College. She is co-author of Winning On Paper, a forthcoming AILA National publication.
ELIZABETH GOSS
Elizabeth Goss is the CEO of The Law Office of Goss and Associates, LLC. She is admitted to practice in the state bars of Massachusetts and New York.
An experienced immigration attorney with nearly three decades working in the field of immigration, Elizabeth is nationally and internationally recognized for her legal representation to multinational corporations, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and research institutions.
Elizabeth specializes in securing temporary and permanent visas for physicians, researchers, professors, and artists under the extraordinary ability, outstanding researcher, and national interest waiver categories. She is one of only a few attorneys nationwide that has obtained an international entrepreneur parole visa for start-ups as noted by Forbes, see article.
Prior to starting Goss Associates, Elizabeth was a Partner at Tocci, Goss & Lee PC and co-founded Newfront Software. She also served as the Director for Tufts University International Students & Scholars office (Health Sciences campus).
She held several national leadership positions in both the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and NAFSA: Association of International Educators (NAFSA).
A skilled writer, Elizabeth is a contributor to prominent law publications including AILA, MCLE, and NAFSA professional publications. Elizabeth is also a frequent guest lecturer at universities on obtaining work permits and permanent residence for international scholars and students. She is frequently quoted by the media including Politico, The New York Times, Forbes, The Boston Globe, among others, on a variety of immigration topics.
She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New York, and Federal Court.
CHARLES H. KUCK
Charles H. (“Chuck”) Kuck is the Managing Attorney at Kuck Baxter Immigration in Atlanta, Georgia. Chuck served as the National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association from 2008-2009. He also served as President of the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers from 2010-2014 and has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Emory Law School and the University of Georgia Law School for more than 20 years, for both survey and advanced immigration law classes. He was named one of the top 4 immigration attorneys in the world by Chambers & Partners again in 2021, the “Best Lawyer-Immigration” in Georgia by Best Lawyers in 2021 and was previously named one of the “100 Most Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine. He has practiced immigration law for over 32 years, has spoken at numerous legal and business conferences on all types of immigration related topics, has testified in Congress on various aspects of Immigration Law and Immigration Reform, is frequently quoted in the national press, and appears regularly on national and local television and cable news outlets as an expert on immigration law and migration issues.
MICHELLE CANERO
Michelle Canero is a founding member of Canero Fadul Immigration and has over 12 years of experience in immigration. She handles all types of U.S. immigration matters – including work visas, investor visas, and permanent residence (“green card”) cases – for clients throughout the United States, as well as all over the world. She has experience working with multinational corporations, small and medium sized businesses, as well as individuals, in a variety of immigration matters. Michelle specializes in employment and investment visas and has developed one of the largest and most successful Labor Certification practices in state of Florida.
She has been profiled and interviewed by numerous local and national media outlets for her work in the field including CNN Español, The Washington Post, and The Miami Herald, among others. Born in Venezuela to parents of Trinidadian, Spanish, and Uruguayan descent, Michelle relates to her clients’ immigration experience on a personal level and strives to make the complex and stressful process as transparent and predictable as possible. Michelle’s passion for immigration and her clients extends well beyond her work within the firm.
She believes in the value of engagement and community outreach, volunteering her time and resources to educational programming, and supporting various chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations. She is involved in immigration advocacy with state and federal agencies as well as local, state, and congressional representatives. Michelle is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and former Board member of the AILA South Florida Chapter, as well as the Board of Immigrants List. Michelle frequently speaks on immigration matters at local chambers of commerce, professional organizations, and academic institutions. She has also spoken on continuing legal education panels for both AILA and Catholic Legal Services.
CORY FORMAN
Cory Forman is the former Chairperson of the New York Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA”) and currently serves as an Elected Director on AILA National’s Board of Governors and represents non-citizens in immigration, criminal, and federal court proceedings.
Having spent his career practicing as a criminal and immigration attorney, Cory has a specialized knowledge of representing non citizens in both the criminal and immigration contexts. In 2007 Cory launched the firm’s “Crimmigration” division, which focuses on representing individual clients in all arenas where criminal and immigration law intersect. Its mission is to help non-citizens understand and avoid the severe immigration consequences that result from a criminal prosecution.
The division is responsible for litigating deportation issues and filing waivers in immigration court, developing criminal trial and plea-bargaining strategies based on an individual’s immigration concerns, vacating prior convictions through post-conviction relief litigation, and arguing writs of habeas corpus on behalf of those unlawfully detained by immigration and criminal authorities. The Crimmigration division also provides consultation services to other criminal defense and immigration attorneys around the country.
As a former staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division Cory has represented thousands of non-citizens accused of crimes. In doing so, he developed an aptitude for representing non-citizens. Cory has since devoted his career to representing non-citizens in both criminal and immigration proceedings.
JAVAD KHAZAELI
Javad is the Co-Founder of Khazaeli Wyrsch, LLC. Khazaeli Wyrsch is a St. Louis-based law firm that focuses on civil rights, immigration, and litigation. In 2021, the Riverfront Times chose Javadas the Best Attorney in St. Louis. In 2017, St. Louis University awarded Javad and his firm theExcellence in Pro Bono and Public Service award.
Just days after the 9/11 attacks, Javad was selected to spend his last semester of law school in Washington, DC working for Senator Jean Carnahan. Upon graduation, he was selected as aPresidential Management Fellow. That started his government service which included almost 14years with the Department of Justice and then the Department of Homeland Security, U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement, National Security Law Division. His expertise was using immigration laws to prosecute terrorists, terrorist financiers, and aliens engaged in espionage and other criminal acts. In that capacity, Javad worked closely with federal, state, and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In 2010, he transferred to the Department of Labor where he served as one of 15 Certifying Officers nationwide tasked with managing the department’s immigration programs. He left the government in 2013 and opened Khazaeli Wyrsch in April 2014.
Michael Brown’s death four months after Khazaeli Wyrsch opened transformed the mission of the firm. Khazaeli Wyrsch is lead counsel on over 20 civil rights cases against police departments for excessive force or other Constitutional violations. In 2017, he published an op-ed in the NEW YORK TIMES, I Prosecuted Terrorists for President Bush. Now My Family in Iran May Be Banned FromVisiting. Javad’s life story was featured on the 11:FS – Connection Interrupted technology podcast, Javad Khazaeli, The Immigrant’s Story. Javad’s civil rights work has been featured in the WASHINGTON POST (How municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., profit from poverty) the NEW YORK TIMES (Racial Double Standard of Capitol Police Draws Outcry), and around the world. In October of 2021 after Kabul feel., Javad worked with former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander to smuggle 370 Afghans out of the country to Albania. These refugees should be resettled
in America in 2023.
Javad earned degrees in Biology and Psychology from the University of Illinois and his J.D. from Washington University School of Law.
IRA KURZBAN
Ira J. Kurzban is a civil rights and immigration lawyer. He is a partner in the law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt, P.A., of Miami, Florida where he chairs its immigration department. Mr. Kurzban is a past-national President and former General Counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is a Fellow of the American Bar Association. He has litigated over fifty federal cases concerning the rights of aliens, including Jean v. Nelson, Commissioner v. Jean, and McNary v. Haitian Refugee Center, Inc., which he argued before the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Kurzban is an adjunct faculty member in Immigration and Nationality Law at the University of Miami School of Law. He is the author of Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook, the most widely used one-volume immigration source in the United States and he has lectured and otherwise published extensively in the field of immigration law, including articles in the Harvard Law Review and Columbia University Press.
KALMAN RESNICK
Kalman Resnick is a Shareholder with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym., Ltd. Mr. Resnick’s more than 40 years of experience as an immigration law practitioner and his vast knowledge of a multiplicity of immigration practice areas contributes to his ability to counsel and advocate for his clients in the field of immigration law. Mr. Resnick has practiced immigration law since 1973. He has extensive experience in virtually every area of immigration practice, including business immigration, family unification, asylum and refugee matters, nationality and citizenship issues, employer sanctions and other employment related immigration matters, and the defense of foreign nationals under removal proceedings.
DENYSE SABAGH
Denyse Sabagh practices in the areas of immigration and nationality law and litigation. Ms. Sabagh has more than 30 years of experience in representing diverse clients. She helps corporate clients manage both inbound and outbound employment immigration. She is a recognized leader in all aspects of immigration law. She has in depth experience representing individual and corporate clients for all of their immigration needs including E, H, J, L, O, P, and TN non-immigrant and EB-1, PERMs, immigrant visas, EB 5 Immigrant Investor Visa, J-1 waivers and Outbound issues. She also represents clients in I-9 audits, complex immigration cases, consular processing and immigration ramifications of criminal charges. In addition, she represents family based clients. She is a frequently featured speaker at national, state, and local conferences and in national and international media.
She is a recognized leader in developing strategic business immigration programs and policies.
MARCINE SEID
With more than 20 years of legal experience practicing immigration law, Marcine A. Seid has earned a reputation for providing superior immigration legal advice and services to her clients worldwide.
Ms. Seid is the principal attorney of the Seid Law Group located in Palo Alto, California where she advises and represents start-ups, emerging high technology companies, medium sized companies, and multi-national companies in the Silicon Valley and throughout the 50 States.
Ms. Seid’s immigration practice areas include permanent residence and citizenship; visas for executives, managers, scientist, scholars, engineers, financial and other professionals, student and visitors, PERM labor certification and employment-based visa petitions. Moreover, she has experience consulting on I-9 employment verification issues, advising employers in the implementation of compliance policies and procedures and representing employers in agency immigration worksite investigations.
Ms. Seid is a nationally recognized speaker and thought leader on business immigration matters and has co-authored two books, Immigration Compliance Auditing for Lawyers published by the American Bar Association, and Immigration in the Workplace. She has been included in Best Lawyers in America for over ten years; US News: Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal Corporate Immigration.
Ms. Seid is also an active member of the immigration bar. She is an elected director of the American Immigration Lawyer's Association's (AILA) National Board of Governors. She has also served as a member of AILA's National Verification & Worksite Enforcement Liaison Committee and on other national and local AILA liaison committees with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in past years.