Anthony D. Romero, Esq.
Anthony D. Romero is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation’s premier defender of liberty and individual freedom. He took the helm of the 86-year-old organization just four days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Shortly after, the ACLU launched its national Safe and Free campaign to protect basic freedoms during a time of crisis. Under Romero’s leadership, the ACLU gained court victories on the Patriot Act and filed landmark litigation on the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody. Most recently, the ACLU successfully challenged the Bush administration’s illegal spying program.
Romero, an attorney with a history of public-interest activism, has presided over the most successful membership growth in the ACLU’s history and more than doubled the budget and national staff of the organization since he began his tenure. This unprecedented growth has allowed the ACLU to expand its litigation, lobbying and public education efforts, including new initiatives focused on racial justice, religious freedom, privacy, reproductive freedom and lesbian and gay rights.
Romero is the ACLU’s sixth executive director, and the first Latino and openly gay man to serve in that capacity. In 2005, Romero was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America, and has received dozens of public service awards and an honorary doctorate from the City University of New York School of Law.
Born in New York City to parents who hailed from Puerto Rico, Romero was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He is a graduate of Stanford University Law School and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs. He is a member of the New York Bar Association and has sat on numerous nonprofit boards.
La Gran Fiesta Panelists:
Judith Bernstein-Baker, Esq., MSW
Judith Bernstein-Baker is the Executive Director of HIAS and Council Migration Service of Philadelphia. She received her B.A. from Binghamton University, her M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and her J.D., cum laude, from Temple University School of Law. HIAS and Council provides pre-migration counseling, law-related immigration assistance and representation to refugees and immigrants from over 60 countries. Ms. Bernstein-Baker also handles a caseload with a concentration on asylum, victims of abuse, and abused and neglected juveniles Prior to becoming Executive Director of HIAS and Council, Ms. Bernstein-Baker ran the Public Service Program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was named Honorary Fellow of Penn Law School in 1998. In 2004 she received the Mary Philbrook Award from Rutgers/Camden Law School for Public Interest, and has received Certificates of Honor and Appreciation from the African Cultural Alliance/Liberian Association of Philadelphia, the Equal Justice Award from Community Legal Services and Ms. Bernstein-Baker has published several articles on immigration issues and public interest law. She is an active member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, currently serving as liaison to the local office of CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services-successor organization to INS).
Isidoro Gonzalez, M.D.
Is the
Executive Director of La Comunidad Hispana, a public
interest organization based in Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania. La Comunidad Hispana provides service to the
Latino community and to other vulnerable residents in
Chester County through a diverse array of health care,
social services, and educational services. Mr. Gonzalez has
over twenty years of experience as an administrator in
government, health and social service agencies. For the
homeless community members in need, he has developed an
HIV-specific medical licensed outpatient clinic and
residential facility and implemented associated behavioral
health and alternative therapy programs. As Assistant
Director of Grants Administration he has managed 32
HOPWA-funded contracts with HIV service providers citywide.
He has been responsible for Quality Management for the
largest HIV/AIDS provider in the State, and has directed
the Health Education & HIV Service Program on the East
Coast for Phoenix House. Mr. Gonzalez was the Director of
Training & Logistics for the State Emergency Medical
Services for the Department of Health, Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico. In addition to his medical doctorate degree,
his background includes a two-year clinical-preceptorship
at the AIDS Center of St. Vincent’s Hospital in NYC
as well as a certificate in Executive Management from
Columbia University. In 2004, he was awarded the Community
Education Service Award from the Borough President of
Staten Island.
Jan
Ting, Esq.
Professor
of Law, joined the Temple law faculty in 1977, and served
as Director of the Graduate Tax Program from 1994 to 2001.
He is a 1970 graduate of Oberlin College, received an M.A.
degree in Asian Studies from the East-West Center of the
University of Hawaii in 1972, and received his law degree
from Harvard Law School in 1975. He specialized in tax law
as an attorney at Pepper Hamilton & Scheetz from 1975
to 1977. He was appointed Assistant Commissioner at the
Immigration & Naturalization Service of the U.S.
Department of Justice in 1990, and served there until 1993.
He teaches courses on national security, taxation, and
immigration law., and has published articles in those
areas. He has been quoted in news reports, and has
published commentary, in various media including the New
York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post,
the Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, PBS Newshour,
ABC Nightline, the NBC Today Show, Dateline, and Evening
News programs. The National Asian Pacific American Law
Students Association (NAPALSA) named Professor Ting as the
"2003 Asian American Law Professor of the Year" at their
2003 national convention. Professor Ting is a Senior
Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Center
for Immigration Studies, and the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies. He was the Delaware Republican Party
candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006.
Moderator:
Fernando Chang-Muy, Esq.
Professor
Fernando Chang-Muy directs the Philadelphia site of the
Funders' Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities, an
association of foundations that seek to strengthen the
organizational capacity and leadership of Latino
organizations. He teaches Immigration and Refugee law at
Penn Law and also teaches principles of Non Profit
Management at Penn's Graduate School of Social Policy and
Practice Work. He is a frequent speaker on Immigration
rights, and is the author of various articles dealing with
immigration and refugees, human rights, and public health.
He is a former Program Officer at The Philadelphia
Foundation, and past coordinator of the Emma Lazarus
Collaborative. He also served as Co-Chair of the
Philadelphia Bar Association's International Human Rights
Committee. In 2000, he served as founding director of the
Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture. From 1988 to 1993,
he served as Legal Officer with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugee and the World Health Organization.
Before joining the UN, he was a staff attorney at Community
Legal Services in Philadelphia where he served as Director
of the Southeast Asian Refugee Project. He is the recipient
of a 1982-83 Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship; a 1990 21st
Century Trust Fellowship; the 2001 Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Social Justice Award from the Rutgers University School
of Law, and the 2002 Michael Greenberg GALLOP award for
leadership, activism and legal advocacy.