Jeanne Butterfield

Jeanne Butterfield is an American lawyer specializing in immigration and human rights issues, who has been Executive Director of the American Immigration Law Association (AILA) since 1997, but has announced her intention to leave that post in June 2010. According Charles Kuck, AILA President, announced the resignation saying "She leaves us but not the issue. She intends to continue to be part of the broader campaign for immigration reform that is so important to AILA and its members, although she has not yet decided in what new capacity she will continue to serve." Kuck suggested she is qualified for appointments in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, although there have been no announcements.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Immigration Forum (NIF), and was participant in U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security August 2009 Comprehensive Immigration Reform meeting.

Before NIF, she has been reported to have been Executive Director of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC). There now actually many local and regional PSCs, but Fox News reported she had served in a group that was a joint political action front of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Workers World Party, two Marxist organizations; the group had previously been known as the November 29th Committee for Palestine. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, certainly a group that opposes open immigration, is especially emphatic about her, calling her "Jihad Jeannie", and suggesting Senate Republicans would welcome the fight associated with her nomination.

Education

• Law degree, Northeastern University, 1986