Over 20 years of experience with asylum
Ethan Taubes joined the U.S. Government in 1997, and worked for the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Asylum and Refugee Corps for over 20 years. While there, he was employed as an Asylum Officer, a Quality Assurance Trainer, and finally a Supervisory Asylum Officer. Before that, he worked for Interfaith Community Services in New York City, representing asylum seekers in the affirmative context. He also served as Program Director for The International League for Human Rights, where he coordinated projects on freedom of religion, the rights of the child, and refugee issues. He received a Law degree in 1993 from the City University of New York School of Law and a Masters of Law (LL.M) in International Human Rights and U.S. Constitutional Law in 1994 from New York University Law School. Prior to that, he attended the Yale School of Drama and was a member of the Actors’ Studio, Actors Equity, and Dramatist League, where he honed his skills as a public speaker and presenter, and enjoyed a career as an actor, playwright, director, and teacher.
While working for RAIO (Refugee Asylum and International Operations Directorate), part of the Asylum and Refugee Corps, Ethan participated in the U.S. Refugee Program, working both as a refugee officer and team leader on refugee details, where he interviewed and processed refugee claims in Croatia, Romania, Kenya, Jordan, and Turkey, and worked closely with various USAID, UNCHR, and other volunteer agencies. Ethan speaks French (fluent), German (working), and Spanish (working) and is admitted to practice in New York State and the United States District Court, Southern District of New York. Click here for Ethan’s full CV.
To date, Ethan has conducted trainings for law students at the following law schools, clinics, law firms, advocacy/professional organizations, and schools:
Harvard Law School, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program
Yale Law School, Yale Immigration and Legal Services Clinic
Northeastern University, Immigration Justice Clinic
Boston College, Law School
Boston University, Law School
Brooklyn Law School
Columbia University, Law School
CUNY Law School
Gibbons P.C.; McCarter and English; Davis & Polk;
Human Rights First, NY and NJ
PAIR Project (Political Asylum / Immigration Representation Project), Boston, Mass
AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) both NY & NJ
RIF (Refugee and Immigrant Fund, Asylum Support)
The Federal Bar, Washington D.C.
Greater Boston Legal Services
Safe Passage, New York Law School
Baruch College
Available services for
law firms, advocacy groups, and individual asylum seekers and their preparers or other representatives
Ethan offers in-depth legal and clinical expertise and can assist with the preparation and review of individual asylum claims, as well as provide legal guidance and assistance with all stages of the asylum adjudication process, especially in the affirmative context.
clinical trainings
Ethan is available to conduct trainings on a host of topics ranging from “Ways to handle key credibility and corroboration issues” and “The art of identifying nexus and formulating legally viable Particular Social Groups (PSGs),” to “How to prepare for the actual asylum interview” and “How to identify and vet potential mandatory and discretionary bars to asylum.”
Educators
Ethan can offer presentations addressing the history and development of asylum seeking and can help breakdown links between the growing hostility toward and demonization of immigrants and asylum seekers by governments around the world and the mounting danger of state actors embracing an increasingly virulent mix of nationalist, populist, and authoritarian policy solutions to address social conflicts, economic dislocation, and environmental crises.
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