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Celebrating ILCM Staff

Posted on Jun 04 2018

In the midst of difficult and unending challenges, we pause to celebrate, as the first half of 2018 has been filled with a parade of recognition, awards, and honors for ILCM staff.

John Keller and ILCM were honored to receive the American Immigration Lawyers Association 2018 Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award, presented on June 14 at the AILA convention in San Francisco. John and ILCM were nominated for the award by Sam Myers, Sarah K. Peterson, Misti Allen Binsfeld, Karen Ellingson, and Benjamin Casper Sanchez. Letters of support came from Senator Amy Klobuchar, Governor Mark Dayton, and Congressmembers Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum.

The beginning and ending paragraphs of the nomination summarize:

“Arthur C. Helton, a New York lawyer and human rights activist, devoted most of his professional life to helping and protecting refugees. He died on August 19, 2003 during a bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He was only 54 years old.

“Precisely because of John’s unassuming yet unrelenting commitment to dignity and human rights, he is respected on both sides of the aisle, from the most powerful to the most powerless. Within our community, and the immigrant community nationally, he is well known, and highly respected. He has committed his life to immigrant justice and could not be more deserving of this award. In fact, Arthur would be incredibly proud of John Keller and the ILCM, for their effective efforts to resist the attacks on the legal and human rights of immigrants, just as we are honored to nominate him for this award.”

Other recent ILCM award recipients, in more or less chronological order:

• Martha Castañon was named by Governor Mark Dayton as a member of the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs. Her term began on April 3 and runs until January 2022.

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  Anne Applebaum, ILCM’s Pro Bono Director, was honored by the Minnesota State Bar Association with the 2018 Bernard P. Becker Legal Services Emerging Leader award. This award is presented each year to honor dedicated service, outstanding achievements and a demonstrated commitment to provision of zealous and skilled legal representation by an attorney employed by a private, nonprofit agency that provides legal services to low-income and disadvantaged Minnesotans.
  ILCM was named 2017 “Partner of the Year” by the Minnesota Corporate Pro Bono Council for work with corporate pro bono programs.

• Jess Riemer received the Faces of Hope award from the Southwest Crisis Center as someone who has “made a significant impact to help support survivors/victims of domestic and/or sexual violence.” In her statement at the award celebration, Jess said:

“Like most women have to some degree, I have experienced sexual harassment and assault and have also supported close friends through intimate partner violence. I am familiar with the myriad and complicated set of emotions and decisions that those circumstances create. I have seen that immigrant survivors face many additional obstacles and barriers to accessing justice and even in addressing basic safety concerns. I hope to see these issues dramatically improve in my lifetime and work towards that change.”

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  Mirella Ceja-Orozco won the AILA Minnesota/Dakotas 2018 Pro Bono Champion Award! The award recognizes an individual attorney “who has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to pro bono work and has made a significant impact on the immigrant communities they serve.” ILCM Legal Program Director Margaret Martin said, “This aptly describes Mirella, who dedicated countless hours to pro bono work throughout her years of private practice.”

• Sara Karki was honored for completing the Leadership Austin program. The program is a one-year course sponsored by the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce and Riverland Community College to develop and connect community leaders; the participants learn about the Austin area so that they can become more successful in their work and as stewards of the community. The Chamber of Commerce held a graduation ceremony and luncheon to honor the graduates.