Speakers
Cynthia Lange, Senior Counsel, Fragomen
Cynthia Juárez Lange is an attorney. She received her JD from Southwestern University School of Law and her BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University She was a Managing Partner of Worldwide Executive Committee – Fragomen Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy from 1986 to 2020. She was an adjunct Professor of Law for Southwestern University School of Law and served as a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice – Immigration and Naturalization Service. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Immigration Law Center & IJG as well as on the Board of Directors for Days for Girls. From 2010 to 2021, she was the Program Chair for the Practicing Law Institute Immigration Symposium. In 2021, she and her husband, Dennis Lange, accepted an assignment as Co-Directors of an ICLRS initiative to the Organization of American States in Washington, DC.
Anna Greene, Senior Protection Officer, UNHCR
Ms. Anna Greene is a Senior Protection Officer in the UNHCR office in Washington, and is responsible for overseeing UNHCR’s asylum, statelessness and refugee resettlement work in the United States. She first joined UNHCR in 1998 and served in UNHCR field operations in the Kosovo, East Timor, Guatemala, Mexico and the Caribbean, before taking up her current role in UNHCR’s U.S. country office. Her work with UNHCR in countries around the world has enabled her to develop specific expertise in a diversity of areas within humanitarian response field, including: refugee status determination and building of national asylum systems; refugee resettlement; child protection in complex emergencies; immigration detention; minority rights in conflict and post-conflict environments; rescue-at-sea; and statelessness.
Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti, Professor, The University of Mary Washington
“Nabil Al-Tikriti is Professor of Middle East History at the University of Mary Washington. He was a member of the MSF/Doctors Without Borders USA Board of Directors from 2011 to 2017, and a member of the Middle East Report editorial board from 2017 to 2023.
He has served as a consultant, election monitor, and relief worker at a number of field locations in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Dr. Al-Tikriti earned a bachelor’s degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a doctorate in Ottoman History from the University of Chicago in 2004.
He has also studied at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Istanbul, the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad in Cairo, and the American University in Cairo.
He is the recipient of several grants and scholarships, including three Fulbrights, a U.S. Institute of Peace Fellowship, and a NEH/American Research Institute in Turkey grant.”
Parisa Dada, Program Officer, USRAP Capacity Building Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration, International Rescue Committee
Parisa is a Program Officer for U.S. Refugee Admissions Program Capacity Development team at International Rescue Committee (IRC). IRC is a global humanitarian aid, relief and development organization and the Capacity Development team at IRC focuses on building partnerships domestically with other national refugee resettlement agencies as well as local partner affiliates. The goal of the Capacity Development team is to increase refugee resettlement capacity through proposing, onboarding, training and developing new affiliate partners and resettlement agencies to resettle refugees and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders in the United States. Prior to her tenure at IRC, Parisa worked as Legal Navigation Program Manager at AsylumWorks, a non-profit in the Washington DC metropolitan area with a focus on helping asylum seekers rebuild their life with dignity and purpose while they await the outcome of their humanitarian forms of relief. Parisa began her career in the non-profit industry at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants where she ran their family reunification program with a focus on family-based forms of relief for USCRI’s network of thirty plus offices. Parisa is a graduate of the University of District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, and she spent the first half of her post-graduate professional experience clerking for two respective immigration law firms in the DC area. Parisa grew up in central Florida for most of her life and she attended the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida. She majored in Political Science with a focus on International Relations/Comparative Politics and a minor in Middle Eastern studies. Before arriving to central Florida, Parisa spent several years of her childhood in the Middle East and is fluent in Farsi, her native language.
Alia Boltakke, Founder & Attorney, The Boltakke Law Group
Alia Boltakke, Esq. is the founder and head attorney of The Boltakke Law Group, which is based in Fairfax, Virginia. She has dedicated her career to advocating for the rights of immigrants, with a particular focus on removal defense, asylum, and refugee law. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of Maryland, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Federal District Court, Fourth Circuit.
Through her firm, she has developed a reputation for offering creative and effective legal solutions, particularly in complex immigration cases. Her expertise in removal defense, asylum, and refugee law is marked by a deep understanding of the intricacies of these often challenging and sensitive cases. Attorney Boltakke has handled a wide array of cases, including those based on domestic violence, religious persecution, human trafficking, slavery, FGM, honor killing, political persecution, gang violence, former police officers, ethnic persecution, juveniles, and LGBT community members.
In addition to her legal practice, Boltakke is deeply invested in educating the immigrant community and the public about immigration law. She has made significant contributions to this end, participating in various media outlets, educational events, and radio programs. She serves on the Board of ADAMS, Gainesville Branch, focusing on Civic Engagement. Her fluency in Spanish, Arabic, and English significantly enhances her ability to connect with those within the immigration community.