Americans for Immigrant Justice, formerly known as the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), held its 16th Anniversary celebration on Thursday evening, March 15th at the Hotel InterContinental in downtown Miami. Immigrant survivors of human trafficking; abused children far from home; talented youth at risk of deportation: these are the folks at the center of the AI Justice mission and the heart of its 2012 Annual Dinner.

At a time of increasingly virulent anti-immigrant voices, AI Justice remains committed to upholding our immigrant nation's fundamental values: Justice, the rule of law and human rights. Its dinner program reflected those values:

• Keynote speaker José Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer-Prize Winning journalist, stunned the nation last year with his New York Times essay, My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.
• Humanitarian Award recipient Aldo Bello is an award-winning filmmaker, features AI Justice client Juan Gomez in his documentary on the DREAM Act.
• Immigrant Voices Award recipient Kimberly Green if a philanthropist, writer and filmmaker, has helped improve thousands of lives in Miami, Haiti and other places worldwide.

More than 450 elected officials, attorneys, judges, business leaders and other prominent guests attended the AI Justice Annual Dinner. Among them were be AI Justice clients, including Dream Act students, trafficking survivors and abused youth who now thrive. The chairs of the dinner host committee were Alexandra M. Codina & Andrew W. Frey and Doriliz & Harold Arteaga, Esq. Celebrated journalist Helen Aguirre Ferré served as Mistress of Ceremony.

Since announcing its new name in September, AI Justice has redoubled its advocacy efforts nationwide. Sixteen years after opening its door, it will open a Washington, D.C., office in April and keep pressing for smart, reality-based reform of our nation's broken immigration system.