Efr茅n C. Olivares
Efr茅n C. Olivares聽is the director of strategic litigation and advocacy. He leads legal and technical experts dedicated to developing and executing innovative litigation and advocacy to advance social justice.
He previously served as the deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center鈥檚聽Immigrant Justice Project, focusing on ending immigrant detention, including through pro bono legal representation to detained immigrants in the Deep South, advancing workers鈥� rights and guaranteeing access to the asylum process.
Olivares is an accomplished civil rights lawyer who has represented clients before federal courts and international human rights bodies for nearly two decades. He was previously at the , where he served as the lead attorney in a landmark petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of families separated under the Trump administration鈥檚 鈥渮ero-tolerance鈥� immigration policy.
Olivares鈥� writings on immigration policy have been featured in , and . He has and at . His work was featured in the CBS News documentary . He has been interviewed as an expert attorney on immigrants鈥� rights issues in , , , , and other outlets, as well as numerous TV and radio programs including series. His essay 鈥淟aw Enforcement and Immigration Enforcement in the Rio Grande Valley鈥� was published in Racism in America: A Reference Handbook in 2020.
His memoir, , was published in 2022 and received a 2023 International Latino Book Award in the category of best political/current affairs book in English. After migrating to the United States from Mexico at age 13, Olivares was the first member of his family to attend college. He received his bachelor鈥檚 degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from . He completed a Bernstein Fellowship at the and practiced litigation at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright). Olivares is a member of the bar in Texas and Georgia and is admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
