Immigration Update: Navigating Current and Emerging Developments in Higher Education

Anita Gupta is the Managing Attorney of Legal Programs and Initiatives at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. She leads the Legal Pathways that Work initiative, which aims to increase access to employment-based immigration pathways for college students and graduates with temporary or precarious statuses. Anita has practiced immigration law for over ten years and has dedicated her career to immigrant rights. She is also an adjunct professor with Villanova University’s Immigration Studies program. 
 
Prior to joining the Presidents’ Alliance, Anita led the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s removal defense and Texas teams, and she regularly conducted trainings on immigration law, provided legal technical assistance, and authored practice manuals and advisories for immigration and criminal defense practitioners across the country. She also partnered with community advocates and local government officials to pass and implement local policies that reduce the arrest-to-deportation pipeline, such as the first cite and release ordinance in Texas.  

Anita previously worked in private practice, specializing in removal defense and humanitarian-based immigration relief, and she was a staff attorney at American Gateways and the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she represented low-income immigrants in a wide variety of matters. Anita earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her law degree from DePaul University. 

Michael Stokes is Associate General Counsel at Bowling Green State University. He was born and raised in Detroit and worked his way through college, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1981 and a master’s degree from Wayne State University in 1983. In 1985 he joined the Defense Contract Management Command as a civilian employee and in 1987 was selected for a posting at that agency’s office in Canada, remaining there until he went to law school at Ohio State University in 1992. 

After being admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1995, he spent six years in private legal practice with law firms in Dayton and Toledo, advising clients and handling litigation in various practice areas including employment law, municipal law, and fair housing law. 

Michael joined the Ohio Attorney General’s office in 2001 and worked there for nearly fifteen years, advising and representing state agencies in litigation and regulatory matters, serving as lead counsel in several jury trials, and participating in the major appeals group. In 2012 he received the AGO’s Simon B. Karas Award, which is given in recognition for commitment to public service through the practice of law with integrity and excellence. 

He joined Bowling Green State University as an Assistant General Counsel in 2016; became Associate General Counsel in 2017; and served as Interim General Counsel from April 2019 through March 2020.  Like many in-house attorneys he is a jack-of-all-trades, but most of his current work is in contracts, immigration/visa law, litigation, policies, and real estate. 

Since 2010 Michael has participated in the Ohio Supreme Court’s Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring Program. Other professional contributions include work on NACUA committees and several published articles on legal topics. Notably, a 2015 article in the Cleveland State Law Review, titled The Ruling on a Motion in Limine: Preserving the Issue for Appeal, resulted in a revision to the Ohio Rules of Evidence. 

David Ware is Of Counsel at Ware Immigration. He has served on the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association’s Liaison Committee to the US Department of Labor, as well as the Healthcare Professionals/Physicians Committee. 

He also has served for several years on the Advisory Board of the Federal Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section, as well at the Editorial Board of NACUA Notes, a publication of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. 

He is a member of IMMLAW, the Immigration Lawyers’ Consortium, a select group of the finest boutique firms in the US. 

He serves on the International Medical Graduate Taskforce, dedicated to improving the legal situation of foreign physicians in the US. Mr. Ware has participated as an expert in several legal proceedings over the decades. Most recently he served as expert in a domestic proceeding where the issue was the nature of Optional Practical Training accorded F-1 students following their studies.