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Professor Wadhia selected as 2017 honoree by national immigration lawyers organization


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State Law professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia will be honored by the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) this week for her tireless work, education, and advocacy in the area of immigration law.

Wadhia, an internationally recognized immigration law expert and director of the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, will be recognized for her contributions to the field of immigration law at a special reception held by the NIPNLG on June 23 as part of the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

"Shoba is a principled leader, a staunch advocate for immigrants, and mentor to scores of students. We are proud to recognize her contributions to our struggle and to our movement,” said Dan Kesselbrenner, NIPNLG Executive Director. “We are proud to recognize her contributions to our struggle and to our movement.”

In announcing this honor, the NIPNLG praised Wadhia’s scholarship on the role of prosecutorial discretion in the immigration law and the overlap between immigration, race, and national security, noting that her research has “served as a foundation for scholars, advocates, and government officials seeking to understand or design a strong prosecutorial discretion policy.”

For Wadhia, who has been a member of the NIPNLG for years, this recognition is an affirmation of her years of work in this complex and evolving area of the law.

“I grew up with the project, first as a law student, and later as an attorney and advocate, and now as a teacher,” Wadhia said. “The staff and members are a constant source of inspiration for brilliance, authenticity, and friendship. I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award."

In addition to the award ceremony, and as part of the annual AILA conference, Wadhia will also join a distinguished panel on new immigration enforcement landscape and also moderate another prosecutorial discretion and immigration law, both with distinguished attorneys from across the nation.

The NIPNLG award at AILA and panel presentations come shortly after the paperback release of her book Beyond Deportation by NYU Press; and a new report detailing the state and conditions of Georgia immigration detention centers authored by Wadhia’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, which has been cited in numerous reports in major media outlets. Wadhia has also been active in public discourse surrounding controversial immigration policies, educating Pennsylvania community leaders on immigration, and working with local municipalities to craft progressive and legally sound immigration policy.

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