Leading advocate of immigration reform to speak Thursday

Frank Sharry, a long-time immigrant advocate and the founder and executive director of America's Voice, will speak on the case for immigration reform this Thursday night, April 15. Open to the public at no charge, the lecture will start at 7 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium in Palamountain Hall. 

Sharry created America's Voice in early 2008 to focus on communications and media as part of a renewed effort to win comprehensive immigration reform. Prior to heading America's Voice, he served as executive director of the National Immigration Forum for 17 years. The Forum is one of the nation's premier immigration policy organizations, and has been at the center of every major legislative and policy debate related to immigration for the past quarter of a century.

Before joining the Forum, Sharry was executive director of Centro Presente, a local organization working with Central American refugees in the greater Boston area. He initially became interested in immigrants and refugees while teaching in Singapore in the late 1970s. He was hired to assist with the rescue and relocation of boat refugees fleeing war-torn Vietnam and landing in Indonesia.

His lecture is sponsored by Skidmore's Government Department.