{"id":16482,"date":"2020-04-06T12:18:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T17:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=16482"},"modified":"2020-04-20T16:05:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T21:05:36","slug":"mitchell-hamline-professor-ana-pottraz-acosta-wins-award-for-work-with-immigrants-and-new-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/06\/mitchell-hamline-professor-ana-pottraz-acosta-wins-award-for-work-with-immigrants-and-new-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Hamline professor Ana Pottratz Acosta wins award for work with immigrants and new Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When the Trump administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trump-administration-ends-obama-era-protection-program-for-central-american-minors\/2017\/08\/16\/8101507e-82b6-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ended a program in 2017<\/a> that had given temporary legal residence to nearly 3,000 minors from Central America, Ana Pottratz Acosta sprang to action.<\/p>\n<p>Working with the <a href=\"https:\/\/iimn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">International Institute of Minnesota<\/a>, the immigration attorney helped screen those in the program, called Central American Minors (CAM), to see if another immigration path was possible. Later, an organization that sued the administration over the elimination of CAM cited Acosta\u2019s work in the litigation that <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2019\/04\/trump-administration-settled-central-american-minors-parole-program-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eventually led to its reinstatement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div data-carousel-extra='{\"blog_id\":12,\"permalink\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mitchellhamline.edu\\\/news\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/06\\\/mitchell-hamline-professor-ana-pottraz-acosta-wins-award-for-work-with-immigrants-and-new-americans\\\/\"}' id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-16482 gallery-columns-1 gallery-size-large'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/06\/mitchell-hamline-professor-ana-pottraz-acosta-wins-award-for-work-with-immigrants-and-new-americans\/ana-pottratz-acosta_portrait\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16483\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1500,842\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Rebecca Zenefski&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;By Rebecca Studios LLC&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;keywords&quot;:&quot;Array&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ana Pottratz Acosta\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-300x168.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-1024x575.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-1024x575.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"Ana Pottratz Acosta\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-16483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/Ana-Pottratz-Acosta_portrait.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-16483'>\n\t\t\t\tAna Pottratz Acosta is an assistant teaching professor at Mitchell Hamline and clinical instructor for the Medical-Legal Partnership.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>\u201cUltimately, we didn\u2019t know what was going to happen when we did legal screenings in fall of 2017,\u201d said Acosta, an assistant teaching professor at Mitchell Hamline and clinical instructor for the Medical-Legal Partnership. \u201cBut it ended up being much more successful than we ever thought it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For this and other work in the rapidly changing world of immigration law, the International Institute of Minnesota recently awarded Acosta its <a href=\"https:\/\/iimn.org\/zoltaiaward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Olga Zoltai Award<\/a>. Named for a Hungarian refugee and immigrant advocate once referred to by the Star Tribune as the \u201cpatron saint of area immigrants,\u201d Zoltai also co-founded the immigration law clinic at William Mitchell College of Law in 1985.<\/p>\n<p>The daughter of a Mexican immigrant, Acosta grew up in the central Minnesota town of Melrose. She gravitated towards immigration law, especially after working on an asylum case in law school. She then worked with immigrants and refugees at Lutheran Social Services of New York for six years.<\/p>\n<p>In Minnesota, her work has included helping young people in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2019\/01\/09\/two-minnesota-attorneys-trip-to-the-border-captures-18-hour-standoff-with-officials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">going to Tijuana, Mexico<\/a>, in late 2018 to advocate for asylum-seekers. As clinical instructor for the Medical-Legal Partnership, Acosta supervises students in assisting patients at United Family Medicine in St. Paul with legal issues affecting their health, including issues related to immigrant status.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAna is an extraordinary immigration attorney,\u201d said fellow immigration attorney Kara Lynum, a 2011 graduate of William Mitchell College of Law. Lynum accompanied Acosta on that trip to Tijuana and now works for the U.S. Senate. \u201cHer kindness, compassion, and empathy are matched by her deep well of knowledge that she uses to help vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer approach to lawyering should be a goal for all attorneys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Acosta, 40, joined the Mitchell Hamline faculty in late 2016; her first class paralleled a new president beginning his term enacting several highly controversial changes in immigration law and policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the problems highlighted now have existed a long time, but a lot of issues, particularly in removal and asylum laws, are being exacerbated now,\u201d said Acosta. \u201cThe silver lining is students are very motivated to help, and I feel lucky to be in a position to be teaching and training the next generation of lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the Trump administration ended a program in 2017 that had given temporary legal residence to nearly 3,000 minors from Central America, Ana Pottratz Acosta sprang to action. Working with the International Institute of Minnesota, the immigration attorney helped screen those in the program, called Central American Minors (CAM), to see if another immigration path &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/06\/mitchell-hamline-professor-ana-pottraz-acosta-wins-award-for-work-with-immigrants-and-new-americans\/\" class=\"more-link\">Mitchell Hamline professor Ana Pottratz Acosta wins award for work with immigrants and new Americans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":16483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33,36,35,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-16482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-ana-pottraz-acosta","9":"tag-award","10":"tag-faculty","11":"tag-immigration-law","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}