(left to right: Rick Jones, Manny Vargas, Jerry Cox, and Norman Reimer)
On March 6, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) presented Manuel D. Vargas, senior counsel at the Immigrant Defense Project, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented by NACDL President Jerry J. Cox at the opening of NACDL’s 2014 Midwinter Seminar & Meeting, which is devoted entirely to the subject of the collateral consequences of conviction.
“For more than two decades, Manny Vargas has been a leader in the fight to protect the rights of non-citizens ensnared in America’s massive criminal justice system. He has led the criminal defense bar in coming to grips with the profound immigration consequences that may flow from virtually every encounter that an immigrant has with law enforcement. Indeed, Vargas was an initiator of the Deportation Defense Initiative, a massive pro bono effort in support of immigrant rights, and he co-founded the Defending Immigrant Partnership, a national collaboration to provide legal training and back up support for the defense bar. That partnership, of which NACDL is a proud member, is a sponsor of the collateral consequences seminar at which Vargas received this award today.”
Read NACDL’s press release here.