Layli Miller-Muro
Encyclopedia
Layli Miller-Muro is the Executive Director
of the Tahirih Justice Center
, a non-profit organization
dedicated to protecting women from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Miller-Muro founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in Matter of Kasinga
, a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Kassindja co-authored about the case (Do They Hear You When You Cry? Delacorte Press, 1998), Miller-Muro established Tahirih. Prior to joining Tahirih as Executive Director in 2001, Miller-Muro was an attorney at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter
where she practiced international litigation and maintained a substantial pro bono practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Miller-Muro was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals.
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
of the Tahirih Justice Center
Tahirih Justice Center
The Tahirih Justice Center, known simply as Tahirih, is a United States-based non-governmental organization that provides pro bono direct legal services and social and medical service referrals to immigrant women and girls who are fleeing from gender-based violence and persecution...
, a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
dedicated to protecting women from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Miller-Muro founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in Matter of Kasinga
Matter of Kasinga
The Matter of Kasinga was a legal case decided in June 1996 involving Fauziya Kassindja , a Togolese teenager seeking asylum in the United States in order to escape a tribal practice of female genital mutilation. The Board of Immigration Appeals granted her asylum in June 1996 after an earlier...
, a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Kassindja co-authored about the case (Do They Hear You When You Cry? Delacorte Press, 1998), Miller-Muro established Tahirih. Prior to joining Tahirih as Executive Director in 2001, Miller-Muro was an attorney at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter
Arnold & Porter
Arnold & Porter LLP is a nine-office international law firm based in Washington, D.C. Arnold & Porter is well known for its trial, corporate, and antitrust work, and for its pro bono commitments and support for liberal causes.-History:...
where she practiced international litigation and maintained a substantial pro bono practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Miller-Muro was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals.
External links
- Tahirih Justice Center
- Biography
- Justice and Equality – a basis for change in our troubled world, a talk given by Miller-Muro at the 5th annual Margaret Stevenson Memorial Dinner and Lecture, July 17 2004.