NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Fragomen Worldwide, the leading provider of global immigration services and a member of both the Am Law 100 and the Am Law Global 100, announces the election of new Partners and Of Counsel effective October 1, 2014. Fragomen’s newly elected individuals—who include senior legal professionals from across the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East—signify the Firm’s continued growth and recognition as a powerhouse in worldwide immigration services.

The Firm’s new Partners and Of Counsel have a deep and extensive knowledge of immigration and the experience to offer highly strategic and practical advice to clients worldwide. Fragomen congratulates these Partners and Of Counsel on their promotions, and is proud of their professional achievements and important contributions to the Firm and its clients.

Partners

Brian Coughlin, Partner, is based in Fragomen’s Boston office. He assists small and multinational corporate clients, chiefly in the IT consulting industry, with workforce mobility and employment authorization concerns. Brian also works with companies in diverse scientific fields, as well as within the management consulting, financial services, insurance and healthcare industries. His practice comprises all aspects of business immigration law, including corporate restructuring concerns, policy drafting, employee trainings, and general employment enforcement and compliance issues. He regularly represents clients in matters before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Embassies and consular posts abroad. Brian is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar and to the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Boston College (B.A.) and Suffolk University Law School (J.D.).

Karine Faure Wenger, Partner, serves as corporate immigration counsel to a wide range of clients, from small domestic entities to large multinational corporations in varying industries. Based in the Firm’s San Diego office, she manages a growing legal team of attorneys and paralegals that provide immigration solutions to corporate clients and counsels them on all matters of U.S. immigration and nationality law, regulation, policy and compliance. Karine emigrated from France in the 1980s and has practiced exclusively in the field of U.S. corporate immigration and nationality law for over 14 years. She is admitted to the Bar in California and is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego (B.A.) and Golden Gate University School of Law (J.D.).

Murtaza Khan, Partner, is Fragomen’s Practice Leader in the United Arab Emirates and is responsible for the provision of corporate immigration solutions throughout the Middle East and North Africa. He has extensive knowledge of immigration and related HR regulations in the region, and works with a number of large multinational companies to effectively manage large-scale outsourced corporate immigration programs. Murtaza’s experience includes the design and execution of business processes tailored to the Middle East’s particular compliance requirements and best practices. Murtaza is a B.A. (Hons) graduate of the University of Durham and an ACA at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

George Koureas, Partner, is based in our London office and has worked in UK immigration law for over 10 years. He has considerable experience in all areas of UK business immigration, including international transfers and hires under the Points Based System (PBS), applications under the UK Immigration Rules for high-net-worth individuals, sponsorship for companies seeking to employ non-EEA nationals, and assisting companies with establishing themselves in the UK. He is also experienced in settlement, European visa and work authorization applications, and applications for British citizenship. George also assists employers with their immigration strategy, with applications to obtain sponsorship, and with maintaining compliance thereafter. He has also supported a number of employers through audits and licensing visits. George is a graduate of the London Guildhall University (LL.B) and The College of Law, Legal Practice Course.

Catherine Macris, Partner, provides counsel on all aspects of corporate immigration, including nonimmigrant visa options and permanent residence. Based in the Firm’s New York office, she has significant experience representing clients in various industries, including consulting, tax, audit, financial advisory, financial services, insurance, fashion design and computer software. She also has experience collaborating with client stakeholders, and presenting recommendations and strategic solutions as well as process improvement plans. Catherine is admitted to the Bar in Connecticut and New York. She is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A.) and Syracuse University College of Law (J.D.).

Anna Morzy, Partner, is based in the Firm’s Chicago office. Her practice focuses on advising multinational corporations, U.S. employers and foreign nationals regarding U.S. immigration law and compliance. She is experienced in managing EB-5 Immigrant Investor matters for individuals and groups establishing commercial enterprises in the U.S., and in managing immigration strategy matters for entrepreneurs and technology start-ups. Anna is the President of the Polish American Chamber of Commerce and is on the steering committee of the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition. She is also a board member of the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights and is an invited member of the American Jewish Committee’s Immigration Task Force. Anna is admitted to the Bar in Illinois and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the American Bar Association – International Law Committee. Anna received her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago and is fluent in Polish.

Francesca Moschetta, Partner, practices in the Firm’s New York office. Francesca joined Fragomen as an Associate in 2005 and is admitted to the Bar in New York and New Jersey. Francesca currently represents multinational corporate clients in the financial services and management consulting industries on all aspects of corporate U.S. immigration, including nonimmigrant visas, permanent residence and citizenship. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. Francesca is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.) and Fordham University School of Law (J.D.).

Kristi Nevarez, Partner, is based in the Firm’s Santa Clara office. For over 17 years, she has advised clients in matters of corporate business immigration, including nonimmigrant visas, labor certifications and adjustments of status. Kristi has served as corporate immigration counsel to emerging and mid-sized clients in a wide range of industries, including technology, consumer products, civil engineering and the legal services sector. In 2010, Kristi briefly stepped aside from her practice to serve as the Congressional Assistant and Immigration Policy Advisor to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Immigration Subcommittee. The experience provided Kristi with first-hand insight into the policy development of complex immigration laws at the highest levels. Upon her return to Fragomen in 2012, Kristi began to manage a team serving a large, multinational high-tech corporation with worldwide immigration needs. Kristi is admitted to the Bar in California and attended Santa Clara University (B.A.) and Santa Clara University School of Law (J.D.).

Charlotte Slocombe, Partner, is based in Fragomen’s London office. Charlotte oversees the consular and document practice, focusing on U.S. consular services out of the EMEA region. The practice also has oversight of other consular jurisdictions, and the business visa group and document services teams out of Europe. Charlotte is admitted to the Bar in New York and is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. She is a graduate of European Law (LLB Euro) from the University of Warwick and attended a Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School, London.

Of Counsel

Cheryl Escario-Pash, Of Counsel, serves as corporate immigration and strategic counsel to small, mid-sized and large Fortune 500 companies, as well as individuals and emerging companies. Cheryl has represented clients in an array of global industries, including leading high technology companies, consumer product manufacturers, preeminent biopharmaceutical firms, multinational energy and aluminum suppliers, leaders in renewable energy sources and international engineering and architectural firms. Based in Fragomen’s Santa Clara office, Cheryl partners with corporate clients to effectively manage their in-house immigration programs, and manages a team of experienced legal professionals responsible for meeting the employment-based immigration needs of these clients. Cheryl has also successfully provided pro bono legal representation in array of immigration cases, including challenging family-based, asylum and deportation (cancellation of removal) matters.

About Fragomen Worldwide

Fragomen Worldwide is recognized as the world’s leading global corporate immigration services provider. The Firm employs more than 500 attorneys, solicitors or similar immigration professionals, and over 1,500 additional immigration professionals and staff located in more than 40 offices in 21 countries. For more than 60 years, Fragomen has represented a broad range of companies, organizations and emerging businesses, working in partnership with clients to facilitate the transfer of employees worldwide. For detailed information about Fragomen, please visit www.fragomen.com.

• Company Legal & Law Matters
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• immigration law

ARTESIA, N.M. (AP) — Trailers have been set up for a school at a federal immigration detention center in an isolated New Mexico desert town. A basketball court and a soccer field have been installed. And detainees are pleading their cases over a video link with judges in Denver.

Officials say that the facility, billed as a temporary place to house women and children from Central America who were among a wave of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally this year, could remain open until next summer.

“All of us would love us to see the doors close in Artesia but the reality is the need will probably be there and probably until the end of the high season, probably August next year,” a government official told immigration advocates in a recent confidential meeting.

The AP had access to a recording of the meeting with the official, whose name or position was not identified.

The detainees at the Artesia Family Residential Center, meanwhile, are growing increasingly frustrated that they are being held with no end in sight while earlier border-crossers were released with orders to contact immigration officials later.

“I’m being punished for coming here, they tell us,” said Geraldyn Perez. She said she fled death threats by gangs in Guatemala.

The center opened as federal officials were realizing over the summer that the thousands of border-crossers they released had disappeared into the nation’s interior and never showed up for any meetings with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

The government official in the recorded confidential meeting acknowledged that about 70 percent of the released families vanished.

The official explained to human rights activists that prolonged detention of children and mothers is “not punitive,” adding that detention is not a tool for deterring would-be immigrants, many of them who have made claims of asylum.

Instead, he said, “the deterrence is that you’re not going to come to the United States and you’re automatically here and you’ll never be removed.”

Immigration advocates say that a federal report by the Citizenship and Immigration Service’s asylum unit to activists says only 37.8 percent of the Artesia detainees pass their initial interviews for asylum, compared to the 62.7 percent national average.

And for those who are eligible for release, bonds have been set as high as $25,000 or $30,000 or about five times the national average, according to immigration lawyer Stephen Manning, who has volunteered in Artesia.

Housing more than 500 women and children at any given time, ICE said, the Artesia location remains an “effective and humane” piece in the government’s response to the unprecedented influx of adults with children arriving at the southern border.

Since the center opened in June, more than 300 women and children, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, have been deported. About 500 others remain. And since it’s opening, conditions have improved for detainees to meet with their lawyers.

Over the first few weeks, the only access to legal counsel detainees had were a video presentation about the rights of detainees. ICE is now allowing lawyers to meet with the detainees and allows them to bring in their cellphones and computers, which was forbidden.

Civil rights advocates are suing the government, complaining that a lack of access to legal representation has turned the center into a “deportation mill,” where bail is set impossibly high and asylum claims are denied at a much higher rate than the rest of the immigrant population.

“The government is taking things to an extreme that seems designed to deny people the right to present their case,” said immigration lawyer Laura Lichter, one of dozens of attorneys who provide pro-bono services to the detained families.

Lichter said bonds should be considered based on factors such as if the person poses a danger to the community and if there is risk of flight. She cited several studies by organizations that deal with asylum cases that show how asylum seekers have a near-perfect court attendance rates.

Court dates for people who are released on bond are scheduled up to two or more years into the future, giving asylum seekers more time to prepare their case from home. People in detention are given about two months before appearing in front of a judge.

Perez said her husband came to the U.S. a year ago with an asylum claim and was freed on $3,000 bond. With bonds in Artesia going 10 times that amount, she said she will likely remain locked up.

After landing in Artesia, Perez said she regrets coming to the US. She did not want to come, she said. “I wanted to live and die in Guatemala. Just not die before my time.”

She hoped for help in the U.S. But now, she said, “I so regret coming. I had these huge will to come out ahead in this country, but that’s gone here. I have nothing left.”

• Immigration Issues
• Politics & Government

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Attorneys representing women being held at a South Texas immigration lockup said Thursday they’ve filed a federal complaint alleging sexual abuse and harassment by at least three guards and facility staff members.

Detainees, whose children were staying with them at the 500-plus-bed immigration facility in Karnes City, have told lawyers with two civil-rights organizations and a San Antonio-based law firm that some women were removed from their cells at night to have sex with guards and other support personnel. There were also allegations that detainees were promised money or help with their pending legal cases in exchange for sexual favors, and also were kissed and fondled in front of other women and children.

Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; the Immigration Rights and Civil Rights Clinics at the University of Texas Law School; and the Javier N. Maldonado law firm sent a complaint to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security officials Tuesday.

“At least three Karnes Center employees are suspected as having engaged in this conduct,” MALDEF attorney Marisa Bono wrote in the complaint, which was announced Thursday.

In addition, Bono told The Associated Press that at least two detainees who had witnessed incidents detailed them in reports to the facility’s staff. She said she wasn’t sure whether those reports had been seen by federal officials or only GEO Group, the private company that runs the facility about 50 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Adelina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for ICE and DHS in San Antonio, did not address the specific accusations in a statement Thursday, but said federal officials remain “committed to ensuring all individuals in our custody are housed and treated in a safe, secure and humane manner.”

“ICE has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse or assault and our facilities are maintained in accordance with applicable laws and policies,” Pruneda said. “Accusations of alleged unlawful conduct are investigated thoroughly and if substantiated, appropriate action is taken.”

Amid the recent surge of immigrants pouring into the United States, the all-male Karnes City facility was converted Aug. 1 into one that would temporarily house women and their children.

Similar allegations have been made previously, according to Gillian Christensen, an ICE spokesman in Washington, D.C. But she said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection said those cases “were reviewed by U.S. Attorneys offices and declined for prosecution.”

The Karnes City site is the nation’s third family immigration lockup, along with centers in New Mexico and Pennsylvania. ICE is also in discussions to build another family detention facility in Dilley, southwest of San Antonio, that could eventually house as many as 2,500 people.

Bono said the attorneys waited until Thursday to make the allegations public to allow federal authorities time to take appropriate action.

“We’re concerned about the safety of the women who reported and the women who are victims. We would like assurances that they aren’t going to be retaliated against,” Bono said. “We also want to know what is being done.”

___

Associated Press writer Alicia Caldwell in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

• Immigration Issues
• Society & Culture
• Karnes City
• San Antonio