[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING SISTER MAUREEN KELLEHER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARIO DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 25, 2013

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, in recognition of Women's History 
Month, I rise today to honor Ms. Maureen Kelleher, an outstanding 
individual and someone who has continuously supported the immigrant 
community in Southwest Florida.
   Sister Kelleher is a consultant attorney to the Catholic Charities 
Diocese of Venice, and gives legal assistance and training to its 
immigration staff. Her law practice focuses on obtaining legal 
permanent residency for immigrants in the farming sector from Mexico, 
Guatemala, and Haiti. Her priorities also include representation of 
abused immigrant women and children, victims of crime, and applicants 
for temporary protective status.
   After completing law school in 1984, Sister Kelleher worked in 
Immokalee for Florida Rural Legal Services until 1996 when federal law 
prohibited its legal representation to clients who were neither U.S. 
citizens nor Legal Permanent Residents. Because many of her clients 
were applying for political asylum and were not yet legal permanent 
residents she, along with three other attorneys, began a new non-profit 
corporation, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Corporation. Today, the 
organization is known as Americans for Immigrant Justice and has grown 
to a staff of 38 individuals, with a budget of $3.5 million. Since its 
inception in 1996 AI Justice has successfully closed 80,000 cases and 
has become a national trendsetter in the immigration field.
   Sister Kelleher has been consistently recognized for her work from 
various organizations. In 2001 she received the Florida Association of 
Women Lawyers Golden Achievement Award. In 2003 she was the recipient 
of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce's Humanitarian of the Year award. 
She was also named woman attorney of the year in 2008 by the Collier 
Women's bar. Currently, she serves as a board member of both the 
Immokalee Housing and Family Services, and Florida Non-Profit Services.
   Mr. Speaker, I am honored to pay tribute to Sister Maureen Kelleher 
for her continued service to Southwest Florida and I ask my colleagues 
to join me in recognizing this remarkable individual.

                          ____________________