The 2024 Edward Ross Lecture in Litigation Protecting the Vulnerable: A Career at RAIO

with Ted Kim

Monday, September 16, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Duane Morris LLP Moot Court Room

 

About

Temple University Beasley School of Law presents the 2024 Edward Ross Lecture in Litigation, featuring remarks by Ted Kim, Associate Director, Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Mr. Kim will describe the work of the Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate (RAIO) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which oversees the adjudication of refugee status abroad, asylum status in the U.S., and the work of USCIS abroad. Mr. Kim is the top official within the U.S. government whose work focuses on asylum and refugee status. The asylum officers who are part of RAIO conduct both full asylum interviews at the eleven asylum offices across the U.S. and credible fear interviews at the border as part of the expedited removal process; refugee officers in RAIO travel to different countries to interview applicants for refugee status overseas. Mr. Kim will discuss the role of the adjudicating officer and some of the challenges that RAIO has faced in recent years as well as future directions for the office.

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About the Speaker

Ted Kim

Associate Director, Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Ted Kim’s career in public service has been focused on protecting some of the world’s most vulnerable populations—refugees fleeing persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.  Mr. Kim is the Associate Director for the Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate (RAIO) at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Comprised of more than 3,000 employees, RAIO has a global presence at a dozen U.S. embassies and consulates, deploys officers to conduct refugee processing activities in dozens of locations abroad, and maintains eleven asylum offices within the United States.

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Prior to his current position, Mr. Kim served in several leadership positions within USCIS, including Deputy Chief of the Asylum Division and Chair of the Asylum and Refugee Working Group at the Geneva-based Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum, and Refugees. He also served as Director of the Washington Field Office, where part of his job was to administer the oath of allegiance at the naturalization ceremonies for the region’s newly minted American citizens. Mr. Kim joined his agency in 1999 through the Presidential Management Fellowship program. Mr. Kim received a B.A. from Yale College, traveled to South Korea for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship, and obtained his Master’s Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.