By Patricia Ice
Jackson Advocate Guest Writer
Attorney Allen Orr, Jr. was recently elected president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
AILA, as it is known, is headquartered in Washington, D.C and was founded in 1946. It is the oldest immigration bar association in the United States and has a membership of over 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA members represent families seeking permanent residence for close family members, as well as businesses seeking talent from the global marketplace. The organization’s members also represent foreign students, entertainers, athletes, and asylum seekers, sometimes on a pro bono basis. AILA is a non-partisan nonprofit organization that provides continuing legal education, information, professional services, and expertise through its 38 chapters and over 50 national committees.
Orr is the founder of the Orr Immigration Law Firm, PC. He managed an I-9 compliance audit for a Fortune 10 company which involved review and analysis of all immigration records of its 250,000 employees; represented a coalition of IT companies before the U.S. Department of Labor, seeking to reform various practices in the labor certification process. Orr has edited and authored several immigration publications and given presentations on immigration at numerous conferences. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and Howard University Law School. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and the Supreme Court of the U.S.
A native of Valdosta, Georgia, Allen Orr is the first American of African descent to be elected as president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
