Ira Gollobin, an immigration rights attorney and author, served as pro bono counselor to refugees from all over the world including Nazi Germany and Duvalierist Haiti. His work with Haitian refugees, the purview of this collection, began in 1974....
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Ira Gollobin, an immigration rights attorney and author, served as pro bono counselor to refugees from all over the world including Nazi Germany and Duvalierist Haiti. His work with Haitian refugees, the purview of this collection, began in 1974. In this capacity he served as lead counsel on several major cases that were pivotal to the rights of Haitian refugees, the so-called "boat people." Gollobin's critical role as lead counsel was as important as his active role in developing grassroots organizations that made the public aware and active in Haitian refugee legislation issues. Through his affiliation with major organizations such as Church World Service and the communist founded American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, he created channels for Haitian-American led coalitions such as the National Coalition for Haitian Rights and Haitian Refugee Center, two prominent activist organizations, to form and help steer the campaign for the rights of Haitian refugees. He organized a broad-based strategy that combined legal advocacy to secure basic freedoms for Haitians with long-term policy arguments aimed at granting thousands of Haitian immigrants the right to due process in filing asylum claims. The Haitian Refugee Collection, 1972-2004, documents Ira Gollobin's involvement in multiple legal battles related to Haitian political asylum from the 1970s to the early 1990s. The collection highlights much of the legal and organizational features of the plight of Haitian refugees entering the United States in the late twentieth century. It represents one particular U.S. immigration discourse and the different treatment accorded to some refugees. The collection consists largely of drafts and copies of legal documents, meeting summaries, public outreach material that includes petitions, flyers, pamphlets, and other galvanizing materials; administrative papers from his various organizational affiliations; and research material for refugee asylum and cases. It covers the latter part of Gollobin's legal career beginning with his tenure as a legal consultant for the National Council of Churches in 1974, and continuing through his advocacy and consultant work until 2004 on behalf of Haitian organizations.
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