The U.S. Immigration System

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Diana Morrow

Melissa O'Rourke, local volunteer attorney, advocate, activist, and collaborator with the Northeast Iowa Peace and Justice Center's Immigration Action Network, will be visiting the After Hours meeting to talk about the basics of the U.S. immigration system, including terminology related to immigrants. She will provide a brief history of immigration in Iowa, facts and myths regarding U.S. immigration law, and an overview of pathways and barriers to immigration.

Melissa's history with immigrants, refugees and asylees dates back to the early 1960s and her family’s close friendship (to this day) with a Cuban refugee family who escaped the Castro regime and journeyed to Chicago. Her first young-adult experience was in the 1970s volunteering for the Illinois Migrant Council, assisting families working seasonal harvests in Illinois and western Indiana. As an attorney in 1999, she engaged in special immigration legal training leading to the practice of immigration law, including filing petitions on behalf of immigrants, appearances in immigration court, and consultations with detained immigrants. She volunteered for the Center for Assistance, Service and Advocacy in northwest Iowa, taught immigration law at the University of South Dakota School of Law, and led free immigrant legal assistance clinics and public immigration education programs. She has also led efforts establishing a community health center to overcome barriers faced by immigrants needing health care. She has met with Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst to advocate for immigration reform. Melissa began her affilitaion with the Northeast Iowa Peace and Justice Center in 2016.

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