The Immigrant Legal Resource Center proudly honors outstanding individuals for their work on behalf of immigrants. Named after the late Congressman Phillip Burton, U.S. Representative from California (1964-1983), the awards recognize those who carry on Congressman Burton’s legacy in support of immigrant and human rights. The awards were created with the help of John L. Burton, former Chairman of the California Democratic Party. Phillip Burton’s brother, John Burton currently serves on the ILRC Advisory Board and was presented with the 2004 Phillip Burton Award for Lifetime Achievement in Immigration & Civil Rights. Through the Phillip Burton Awards, the ILRC honors those whose work in the areas of policy, advocacy, and lawyering has significantly advanced the civil rights of immigrants.
HONOREE LEGACY
2022
Representative Joaquin Castro, US Representative for Texas’ 20th District
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Maria Hinojosa, Anchor and Co-Host of Latino USA
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2021 (Virtual Event)
Representative Sylvia Garcia, US Representative for Texas’ 29th District
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Crista Ramos, lead plaintiff on a federal lawsuit to preserve Temporary Protected Status holders
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Founding Funders of the New Americans Campaign, a diverse, national, nonpartisan naturalization project comprised of over 200 legal and community organizations in 20 metropolitan areas across the country
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights
2020 (Virtual Event)
Immigrant Essential Workers
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2019
Harriet Ishimoto, Former Immigration Specialist, Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Cecillia Wang, Deputy Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2018
Representative Pramila Jayapal, US Representative for Washington’s Seventh District
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Diane Guerrero, Actress, Activist, and Author
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2017
Martin O’Malley, Former Governor of Maryland and Former Mayor of Baltimore
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Thuy Vu, Award Winning Journalist, Anchor and Program Host of “KQED Newsroom”
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2016
Hon. Senator Kevin de León, President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
United We Dream
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2015
Hon. David Campos, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Sergio C. Garcia, Activist & Attorney-at-Law
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2014
Hon. Tom Ammiano, California State Assemblymember
Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Gaby Pacheco, DREAMer Activist & Co-Director of the Bridge Project
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2013
Hon. Senator Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator from Illinois
Inaugural Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2012
Dan Corsello, van Löben Sels/RembeRock Foundation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Amagda Pérez, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
2011
Cindy Carla Avitia, former Congressional Assistant to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Ira Kurzban, Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger, Tetzeli & Pratt
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
2010
Jeanne A. Butterfield, Senior Advisor, National Immigration Forum
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Rosy H. Cho, The Law Office of Rosy H. Cho
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP & Rene A. Kathawala, Pro Bono Coordinator
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
2009 ILRC 30th Anniversary Celebration
2008
DREAM Act Students
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Eva Grove, The Grove Foundation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
2007
Kathi Pugh, Pro Bono Counsel, Morrison & Foerster, LLP & James J. Brosnahan, Senior Partner, Morrison & Foerster, LLP
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
David N. Still, former San Francisco District Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Alberto Velazquez, Executive Director, North Valley Sponsoring Committee
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2006
Robert E. Borton, Heller Ehrman LLP
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas’ 18th District
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Harold Hongju Koh, Dean and Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of
International Law, Yale Law School
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2005
Susan M. Lydon, former Executive Director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Phillip Burton Award for Lifetime Achievement in Immigration and Civil Rights
Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Rosenberg Foundation & Kirke Wilson, former President of the Rosenberg Foundation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
2004
Hon. John L. Burton, President Pro Tempore, California State Senate
Phillip Burton Award for Lifetime Achievement in Immigration and Civil Rights
Hon. Cruz Bustamante, Lieutenant Governor, State of California
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Robert Rubin, Legal Director, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International (USA)
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
2003 Phillip Burton Immigration & Civil Rights Awards on hiatus
2002
Samy Baaghil, Director, Minority Assistance Service
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Sara Campos, Staff Attorney, National Immigration Law Center
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Richard Hobbs, Director, Santa Clara County Citizenship and Immigrant Programs
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
2001
Carlos Demarty & Marcos Gutierrez, Radio Unica
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Nancy Fellom & Paula Solorio, Law Offices of Fellom & Solorio
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Hon. Zoe Lofgren, U.S. House of Representatives, California’s 16th District
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
2000
Sister Maureen Duignan, Director, Refugee Rights Program, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Dolores Huerta, Secretary-Treasurer, United Farm Workers of America
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Amy Nice, Manager, Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky
Special Recognition Award
Norton Tooby, Attorney at Law
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
1999
Tomás Gonzalez, Director, El Colegio Popular
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Lucas Guttentag, Director, Immigrants’ Rights Project of the National Office of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Hon. Dana Leigh Marks, Immigration Judge in San Francisco
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
1998
Michael A. Mullery, McVey & Mullery
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Guadalupe Siordia-Ortiz, El Comité de Padres Unidos
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Eva Jefferson Paterson, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
1997
Hon. Phillip P. Leadbetter, former San Francisco Immigration Judge
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Karen Musalo, Director, International Human Rights and Migration Project, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Geneva Nuñez, California Human Development Corporation
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
1996
Marina Castillo, Caseworker, International Institute of San Francisco
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Terry J. Helbush, Simmons, Ungar, Helbush, Steinberg & Bright
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Hon. Mabel Teng, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
1995
Henry Der, Executive Director, Chinese for Affirmative Action
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Ann Kanter, Attorney at Law
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Nelly Reyes-Rosenberg, La Raza Centro Legal
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
1994 ILRC 15th Anniversary Celebration
1993
Hon. Thelton E. Henderson, U.S. District Judge
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Robert B. Jobe, Jobe & Melrod
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Clara Luz Navarro & Maria Olea, Co-Founders, Mujeres Unidas Y Activas
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
1992
Ignatius Bau, The San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Urban Affairs
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Janice Garcia, Bar Association of San Francisco, VLSP, Legalization Project
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Hon. Marilyn Patel, U.S. District Judge
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
1991
Emily Goldfarb, Executive Director, Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Services
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Edwin Rodriguez, Director, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Don Ungar, Simmons, Ungar, Helbush and Steinberg
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
1990
Hon. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House of Representatives, California’s 5th District
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
David Rorick, Paralegal, San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Urban Affairs
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Bill Tamayo, Asian Law Caucus
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
1989
Vivian Fenner, Paralegal, International Institute of Redwood City and San Francisco
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Advocacy
Hon. Cruz Reynoso, former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy
Marc Van Der Hout, Founder, National Immigration Project, National Lawyers’ Guild
Phillip Burton Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Lawyering
Honorees are identified with affiliations in the year they were honored.