New York State Defenders Association

Alina Das will launch a project to develop reentry and reintegration strategies for immigrants facing criminal charges and convictions. Even as support for reentry and reintegration practices in the criminal justice system grows, many immigrants have no opportunity to rejoin their families and communities due to the deportation consequences of a wide range of criminal dispositions. Her project will work with immigrants, reentry service providers, attorneys, courts, and community organizations to craft approaches to alternative sentencing and criminal dispositions that will prevent the harsh consequences of deportation for immigrants, their families, and communities. Through collaboration, research, training, and litigation, the project will assist immigrants in overcoming barriers to reintegration and create a model for challenging the effects of these expansive deportation policies.

Das is an attorney and a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar. As a law student, Das was an advocate in the Immigrant Rights Clinic, working primarily on issues affecting immigrants threatened with deportation due to criminal convictions. She has worked on racial justice and poverty law issues as a legal intern at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, South Brooklyn Legal Services, Legal Aid Society Community Law Offices, and the American Civil Liberties Union. She served as the director of REACH (Research, Education, and Advocacy to Combat Homelessness), a board member of the South Asian Law Students Association and CoLR (Coalition for Legal Recruiting), and the managing editor of the New York University Review of Law and Social Change. Das also earned an MPA from New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and an AB in government from Harvard University. She is currently completing her clerkship for the Hon. Kermit V. Lipez of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

New York, NY  |  One Year