Frank Sharry | |
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 Sharry in 2011 | |
| Born | Connecticut, United States |
| Alma mater | Princeton University |
| Organization | America's Voice |
Frank Sharry is the founder and executive director of America's Voice, a liberal immigration reform group. [1] [2]
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(May 2016) |
He was raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, by an Italian-American mother and an Irish-American father. Sharry was graduated from Princeton University in 1978, majoring in history and American studies. He was captain of the soccer team during his junior and senior year, served as a resident advisor his senior year and was active in student protest efforts regarding the role of private and selective eating clubs in college life and university investments in firms operating in a South Africa ruled by apartheid.
After graduation he taught secondary school for a year at the United World College of Southeast Asia in Singapore. Sharry left to work for the American Council for Nationalities Service (ACNS) in Singapore and Indonesia to assist with the resettlement of boat refugees fleeing war-torn Vietnam in search of temporary safe haven in Indonesia.
He returned to the United States in 1980 and worked for ACNS in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, helping to resettle Cuban refugees who arrived from the Cuban Port of Mariel. Sharry next moved to the ACNS main office in New York to direct a special nationwide resettlement program for Cuban Refugees. He then was promoted to oversee the nationwide resettlement program in 27 cities for refugees from Southeast Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.
In 1986, Sharry left ACNS and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he became the executive director of Centro Presente, a local organization that worked with Central Americans who had fled civil war and human rights violations in their countries of origin in order to seek safe haven in the greater Boston area. While there he helped to found the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, a statewide immigrant advocacy organization.
In 1990, he was hired to become the executive director of the National Immigration Forum (NIF), one of the nation's premier immigration policy organizations that is based in Washington, D.C. and has been directly involved in every major legislative policy debate related to immigration since its founding in 1982. At NIF Sharry emerged as one of the leading pro-immigrant spokespeople, appearing frequently on television and radio, being quoted regularly in print publications, and addressing audiences throughout the country.
During his tenure at NIF, Sharry helped win relief for Central American and Haitian refugees, protected family reunification, and promoted a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system that would simultaneously reduce illegal immigration through smart enforcement, provide a path to legal status and citizenship to undocumented immigrants in the U.S., and reform the legal immigration system.
In 2008, Sharry left the National Immigration Forum to become the founder and executive director of America's Voice, [1] an organization that serves as the communications arm of the immigration reform movement. Since its inception America's Voice has advocated for liberal immigration reform, including amnesty. [2] [3]
Sharry has also been featured in the documentary film series, How Democracy Works Now, by filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini. The series features 12 films about the immigration debate in America from 2000 through 2007. The last film in the series was aired on HBO in March 2010 under the title Senators' Bargain. It shows Sharry working with both Senator Edward Kennedy and the Bush White House for an immigration compromise that would have legalized most of the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants, a compromise that was defeated on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
In August 2024, Politico reported that Sharry was among advisors for the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign. [4]
Sharry is featured in the documentary film entitled Last Best Chance , Story Twelve of the series How Democracy Work Now , from filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini. A cut of the film premiered on HBO in March 2010, under the title The Senator's Bargain .
He also appeared in The Game Is On , Story One in the series How Democracy Works Now. Sharry is shown in Iowa giving a training seminar for media.
Other films he appears in through the series include:
The United States Refugee Act of 1980 is an amendment to the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, and was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to the United States of refugees of special humanitarian concern to the U.S., and to provide comprehensive and uniform provisions for the effective resettlement and absorption of those refugees who are admitted. The act was completed on March 3, 1980, was signed by President Jimmy Carter on March 17, 1980, and became effective on April 1, 1980. This was the first comprehensive amendment of U.S. general immigration laws designed to face up to the realities of modern refugee situations by stating a clear-cut national policy and providing a flexible mechanism to meet the rapidly shifting developments of today's world policy. The main objectives of the act were to create a new, American definition of refugee based on the one created at the 1951 UN Convention and 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees; raise the limitation from 17,400 to 50,000 refugees admitted each fiscal year; provide emergency procedures for when that number exceeds 50,000; require annual consultation between Congress and the President on refugee admissions; and establish the Office of U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Most importantly, it established explicit procedures on how to deal with refugees in the U.S. by creating a uniform and effective resettlement and absorption policy.
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the DREAM Act, is a United States legislative proposal that would grant temporary conditional residency, with the right to work, for illegal immigrants who entered the United States as minors—and, if they later satisfy further qualifications, they would attain permanent residency.
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an American anti-immigration think tank. It favors far lower immigration numbers and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graham alongside eugenicist and white nationalist John Tanton in 1985 as a spin-off of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). It is one of a number of anti-immigration organizations founded by Tanton, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA.
The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 was a bill in the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on December 16, 2005, by a vote of 239 to 182, but did not pass the Senate. It was also known as the "Sensenbrenner Bill," for its sponsor in the House of Representatives, Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. The bill was the catalyst for the 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests and was the first piece of legislation passed by a house of Congress in the United States illegal immigration debate. Development and the effect of the bill was featured in "The Senate Speaks", Story 11 in How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories a documentary series from filmmaking team Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini.
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and/or other persecutions.
The Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR), also known as CCIR/NAOC or New American Opportunity Campaign (NAOC), is a non-profit immigrant rights advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, established in 2003 to pass comprehensive immigration reform. It was instrumental in the 2004 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, modeled after the Freedom Rides of the Civil Rights Movement, and acts as an umbrella organization for several national and local immigrant rights organizations for advocacy and coalition building.
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. The bill was portrayed as a compromise between providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increased border enforcement: it included funding for 300 miles (480 km) of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers, and 20,000 more Border Patrol agents, while simultaneously restructuring visa criteria around high-skilled workers. The bill also received heated criticism from both sides of the immigration debate.
During the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, the United States had limited regulation of immigration and naturalization at a national level. Under a mostly prevailing "open border" policy, immigration was generally welcomed, although citizenship was limited to “white persons” as of 1790, and naturalization subject to five year residency requirement as of 1802. Passports and visas were not required for entry into America, rules and procedures for arriving immigrants were determined by local ports of entry or state laws. Processes for naturalization were determined by local county courts.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with locations in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Kenya, and a national network of nearly 200 partner agencies that provide support for those experiencing forced and voluntary displacement.
Cecilia Muñoz is an American political advisor who served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama, a position she held for five years. Prior to that, she served as the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for three years.
Jose Antonio Vargas is a journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist. Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States from the age of twelve, he was part of The Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting online and in print. Vargas has also worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Daily News, and The Huffington Post. He wrote, produced, and directed the autobiographical 2013 film Documented, which CNN Films broadcast in June 2014.
Esther Olavarria is a Cuban American attorney. Born in Cuba, she emigrated to the United States in 1962 with her family.
How Democracy Works Now is a 10-part, feature documentary film series that examines the American political system through the lens of immigration reform during 2001–2007. The films were directed and produced by award-winning filmmaking team Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini.
Well-Founded Fear is a 2000 documentary film from directors Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini. The film takes its title from the formal definition of a refugee under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as a person who deserves protection, "owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” The film analyzes the US asylum process by following several asylum applicants and asylum officers through actual INS interviews.
Michael Camerini is a British-born American film director, producer and cinematographer. His filmmaking credits include FRONTLINE: Immigration Battle, Niger:Tales of Resilience,How Democracy Works Now, Well-Founded Fear, These Girls Are Missing, Becoming the Buddha in L.A., Dadi's Family and Born Again: Life in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church. His films have been featured on HBO, CNN, PBS, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in London and New York City and The Sundance Film Festival among others.
Shari Robertson is an American film director and producer. Her filmmaking credits include How Democracy Works Now, Well-Founded Fear, These Girls Are Missing, Inside the Khmer Rouge, Return to Year Zero and Washington/Peru: We Ain't Winnin'. Her films have been featured on HBO, CNN, PBS, BBC, Channel 4, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in London and New York City and The Sundance Film Festival among others.
Ali Noorani is an American nonprofit leader who has been the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington, D.C.- based immigration policy organization, since 2008.
The city of Baltimore, Maryland includes a small Syrian population. The Syrian-American community is centered in East Baltimore. While Syrian-Americans have had a presence in Baltimore for over a century, most Syrians in Baltimore are recent immigrants and refugees who have fled the Syrian Civil War.
Federal policy oversees and regulates immigration to the United States and citizenship of the United States. The United States Congress has authority over immigration policy in the United States, and it delegates enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security. Historically, the United States went through a period of loose immigration policy in the early-19th century followed by a period of strict immigration policy in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Policy areas related to the immigration process include visa policy, asylum policy, and naturalization policy. Policy areas related to illegal immigration include deferral policy and removal policy.
Joe Biden's immigration policy initially focused on reversing many of the immigration policies of the previous Trump administration, before implementing stricter enforcement mechanisms later in his term.
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