Staff
Dan Kesselbrenner, Executive Director
617-227-9727 x 2, Email Dan Kesselbrenner
Paromita Shah, Associate Director
617-227-9727 x 1, Email Paromita Shah
Pamela Goldstein, Director of Development and Communications
617-227-9727 x 5, Email Pamela Goldstein
Lena Graber, Soros Criminal Justice Fellow
617-227-9727 x 6, Email Lena Graber
Ellen Kemp, Director of Legal Advocacy
617-227-9727 x 4, Email Ellen Kemp
Ana Manigat, Administrative Assistant
617-227-9727 x 7, Email Ana Manigat
Trina Realmuto, Staff Attorney
617-227-9727 x 8, Email Trina Realmuto
Rosa Thomas , Office Manager
617-227-9727 x 3, Email Rosa Thomas
Sejal Zota, Staff Attorney
617-227-9727 x 108, Email Sejal Zota
Jonna Cottrell, Program and Development Intern
617-227-9727 ext. 108, Email Jonna Cottrell
Dan Kesselbrenner, Executive Director
Program Areas: Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions, Deportation & Detention, Post-9/11 issues
617-227-9727 ext. 2
Email Dan Kesselbrenner
Dan Kesselbrenner is a nationally recognized expert on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions and on contesting deportability in immigration proceedings. Dan is co-author of Immigration Law and Crimes, which was cited in the 2010 Supreme Court decision, Padilla v. Kentucky, and has also authored numerous articles on immigration law. Dan has trained over 5,000 attorneys for the criminal defense bar as well as state judges in immigration consequences. He serves as mentor to scores of attorneys. A former member of the Clinton-Gore Department of Justice Immigrant Transition Team, Dan’s work advancing and defending immigrants’ rights has earned him numerous awards, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Jack Wasserman Litigation Award. Dan has directed the National immigration Project since 1986.
Paromita Shah, Associate Director
Program Areas: Detention & Deportation, Raids Response, Gangs & Immigration
617-227-9727 ext. 1
Email Paromita Shah
Paromita Shah has served as Associate Director of the National Immigration Project since 2005, specializing in immigration detention and enforcement. She is a contributing author and co-presenter of the “Deportation 101” curriculum, participates in regular advocacy efforts with ICE officials, and has created an abundance of resources for communities affected by heightened immigration enforcement efforts. Previously, Paromita served as director of Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, DC, where she conducted presentations in regional county jails, trained attorneys, assessed detainee claims for relief, and conducted liaison meetings with DHS and DOJ. She also worked as a staff attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services.
Pamela Goldstein, Director of Development and Communications
617-227-9727 ext. 5
Email Pamela Goldstein
Pamela Goldstein has worked in non-profit development, communications, and capacity-building for over twenty years. Prior to joining the National Immigration Project in early 2010, she held senior development positions at the international anti-poverty agency Oxfam America, in women’s resources and advocacy, and within the Central America solidarity movement. Pamela has a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and enjoys working with donors to promote meaningful philanthropy that facilitates social change.
Lena Graber, Soros Criminal Justice Fellow
Program Areas: Detention & Deportation, State & Local Enforcement
617-227-9727 ext. 6
Email Lena Graber
Lena Graber’s work seeks to reduce the government’s abuse of immigration detainers–a tool used to maintain custody of potentially deportable individuals in local jails or prisons nationwide. Her work combines advocacy, technical assistance, and litigation to curb the excessive and unlawful detention of immigrants caused by detainers; as well as to separate state and local policing from immigration enforcement. Lena previously worked at the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., where she helped coordinate national advocacy to improve border enforcement policy, analyzed federal budget and appropriations on immigration issues, and sought less punitive immigration enforcement policies at the national level.
Ellen Kemp, Director of Legal Advocacy
Program Areas: VAWA/gender violence issues, U nonimmigrant visa interim relief, HIV/AIDS and immigrants, seminars and legal education
617-227-9727 ext. 4
Email Ellen Kemp
Ellen Kemp is a legal worker advocate at the National Immigration Project, which she joined in 2002. Ellen provides technical assistance and educational materials to attorney members, legal workers, advocates, law students, detainees, and the public regarding immigration options for noncitizen survivors of crimes, including survivors of intimate partner violence. She also advocates on behalf of noncitizens barred from lawful permanent residence by the health grounds of inadmissibility. In addition, Ellen manages the NIPNLG’s continuing legal education seminars and recruits and trains legal fellows and interns.
Ana Manigat, Administrative Assistant
617-227-9727 ext. 7
Email Ana Manigat
Ana Manigat oversees and maintains all membership data for the National Immigration Project, including payment status, address changes, seminar registration, and on-line payment information. Ana also manages the Project’s listservs, including National Immigration Project (membership), Crimimm (Criminal and Immigration Law), HIV/immigration (HIV and Immigration), Gang-imm (Gangs and Immigration), and, for members of the National Immigration Project, VAWA updates/VAWA experts (co-sponsored with ASISTA). Ana joined the staff of the National Immigration Project in 2002.
Trina Realmuto, Staff Attorney
Program Areas: Litigation Strategy, Reinstatement of Removal, Government Accountability
617-227-9727 ext. 8
Email Trina Realmuto
Trina Realmuto has been staff attorney at the National Immigration Project since November 2009. Her focus is on issues related to government accountability for abuse and misconduct, bond and removal proceedings, and federal court litigation. She previously worked as an attorney consultant to the Legal Action Center of the American Immigration Counsel, and as associate attorney at the law firm, Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale in San Francisco. Trina has litigated several precedent decisions on behalf of plaintiffs and amicus curiae, written numerous practice advisories, and is a frequent presenter on immigration issues.
Rosa Thomas, Office Manager
617-227-9727 ext. 3
Email Rosa Thomas
Rosa Thomas brings over fifteen years of non-profit administrative and operations experience to the National Immigration Project. She provides internal management, including IT, finance, and human resources, and oversees the organization’s day-to-day operating needs. Prior to joining the NIPNLG, Rosa worked for several Boston-area non-profits, including a domestic violence shelter and crisis intervention program, a program serving blind and dyslexic populations, and an international microfinance institution.
Sejal Zota, Staff Attorney
Program Areas: Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions, Deportation & Detention
617-227-9727 ext. 108
Email Sejal Zota
Sejal Zota's work focuses on the implementation of the Supreme Court's decision in Padilla v. Kentucky through education, litigation support, and technical assistance. From 2007-2011, Sejal taught, consulted, and wrote about the impacts of immigration on state and local government at the University of North Carolina's School of Government. She also worked with indigent defenders and other criminal court personnel on the intersection of criminal and immigration law.
She is the lead author of Consquences of a Criminal Conviction in North Carolina. Prior to her work at UNC, Sejal worked on immigration and criminal law issues in New York City as a teaching fellow in the Immigrant Rights Clinic of the New York University School of Law, as a public defender with the Bronx Defenders, and as a Kirkland and Ellis fellow at the Immigrant Defense Project.
Jonna Cottrell, Program & Development Intern
617-227-9727 ext. 108
Email Jonna Cottrell
Jonna is a rising senior at Brandeis University majoring in American Studies and Anthropology, and minoring in Classical Studies. She has previously worked as an education policy research intern for the Rhode Island House of Representatives. This is her first time interning with a non-profit organization. At NIPNLG, she assists with membership and communications, and provides general programmatic support. Jonna also volunteers for a program at Brandeis that helps immigrant children develop their English learning skills.
Al-Amyn Sumar , Legal Intern
617-227-9727 ext. 108
Email Al-Amyn Sumar
Al-Amyn in his third year at Harvard Law School, where he is a Frank Knox Fellow, an Articles Editor with the Harvard Law Review, and a member of the World Trade Organization and Vis moot court teams. Al-Amyn’s primary responsibilities at NIPNLG include drafting detainee letters, conducting legal research, and writing practice advisories. Prior to joining NIPNLG, Al-Amyn was an intern at the ACLU Center for Democracy in New York, where he assisted with litigation on matters related to national security, human rights, and speech and privacy.
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