Nisha Agarwal Named NY Immigrant Affairs Commissioner

Nisha Agarwal (2nd from right) addresses a press conference in New York Feb. 28, after being named by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) to head his Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Nisha Agarwal (2nd from right) addresses a press conference in New York Feb. 28, after being named by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) to head his Office of Immigrant Affairs.

United States

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Feb. 28 the appointment of immigrants advocate Nisha Agarwal as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

A public interest lawyer, she will focus on implementing a new resident ID card system for undocumented immigrants, improving outreach to immigrant-owned businesses and ensuring that victims of crimes in immigrant communities are fully protected and respected, de Blasio said.

“This work is part of who I am,” said Agarwal, the daughter of immigrants from India. “It’s embedded in the values I was taught as a child. Those same values make New York City great. I am committed to Mayor de Blasio’s vision of making New York City the gateway to opportunity for all immigrants.”

Most recently, Agarwal worked with Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Robert A. Katzmann to establish the Immigrant Justice Corps, a nonprofit recruiting recent law school graduates to partner with nonprofit legal service providers to offer legal representation to undocumented immigrants.

Before that, the Indian American was deputy director and co-founder of the Center for Popular Democracy, a nonprofit working to advance pro-immigrant policies, and director of the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

Agarwal has a B.A. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

De Blasio said Agarwal has a passion for social justice, which she received from her parents. It was shaped by “hearing stories of her grandfather’s role in the non-violent struggle for Indian independence, led by Mahatma Gandhi,” de Blasio added, according to PTI. “So it’s fair to say that Nisha had extraordinary inspiration from early in her life.”

“The lessons that I’ve learned — that the fire in the belly for better opportunities to speak up for progressive values, is universal,” Agarwal said.

“And that it’s a fire that burned in my grandfather as he marched for freedom alongside Mahatma Gandhi in India. And it’s a fire that crossed borders with my parents when they emigrated to the United States,” she added.

Read more at http://www.indiawest.com