Kareem W. Shora, JD, LL.M.
Senior Policy Advisor
Section Lead, Community Engagement Section
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Kareem W. Shora, JD, LLM is Senior Policy Advisor and Section Lead of the Community Engagement Section with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), in Washington, DC.

Shora joined DHS in October, 2009, after a ten-year tenure with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) where he served as legal advisor, legal director, and national executive director. In June of 2009, he was appointed by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC); the official advisory body for the DHS Secretary on homeland security matters. Shora is also a member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Heritage Community Liaison Council. His experience includes serving as a guest lecturer at the Yale University School of Law. He was also certified as an expert witness on xenophobia and anti-Arab discrimination by the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Central District of California. Shora is a recipient of the 2003 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) “Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award” and has been published by the National Law Journal, TRIAL Magazine, the Georgetown University Law Center’s Journal on Poverty Law and Public Policy, the Harvard University JFK School of Government Asian American Policy Review, the American Bar Association (ABA) Air and Space Lawyer, and the Yeshiva University Cardozo Public Law Policy and Ethics Journal among others.

A frequent guest on Al-Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC, and numerous American television programs, Shora has spoken about civil rights, civil liberties, immigration, and national security policy with many national and international media outlets. He has also testified before major international human rights bodies including regular testimonies before the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where he was routinely consulted as a subject-matter expert on tolerance, diversity and integration. He was selected by the Ford Foundation as a member of the Foreign Policy Task Force designing their 2008 Laboratory for New Thinking on Foreign Policy. He was also selected by the Police Foundation to be part of their 2008 Advisory Board on the study of the role of local police in immigration enforcement. Shora was also the civil society representative on the G8 Experts Roundtable on Diversity, Integration, and the Prevention of Terrorism. Born in Damascus, Syria and fluent in Arabic, Shora is a native of Huntington, West Virginia, a graduate of Marshall University and holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) degree from the West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law in 2000 and the LL.M. specialty in International Legal Studies (Public International Law) from the American University Washington College of Law

 

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/crcl.shtm

The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) supports the Department's mission to secure the nation while preserving individual liberty, fairness, and equality under the law.

CRCL integrates civil rights and civil liberties into all of the Department activities:

  • Promoting respect for civil rights and civil liberties in policy creation and implementation by advising Department leadership and personnel, and state and local partners.
  • Communicating with individuals and communities whose civil rights and civil liberties may be affected by Department activities, informing them about policies and avenues of redress, and promoting appropriate attention within the Department to their experiences and concerns.
  • Investigating and resolving civil rights and civil liberties complaints filed by the public regarding Department policies or activities, or actions taken by Department personnel.
  • Leading the Department's equal employment opportunity programs and promoting workforce diversity and merit system principles.

Read the CRCL Mission Statement in alternate languages:

بيان المهمة

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/crcl-mission-statement-arabic.pdf