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Michelle Brané

As the Director of the Detention and Asylum program at the Women’s Refugee Commission, Michelle Brané focuses on the critical protection needs of women and children asylum seekers in the United States. She authored the 2007 Women's Refugee Commission landmark report on family detention, Locking Up Family Values and the 2009 report on unaccompanied migrant children, Halfway Home..

Michelle has more than 18 years of experience working on immigration and human rights issues. As an attorney advisor with the Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals, she specialized in asylum cases and assisted in developing relevant regulations and training programs for new staff. She has extensive experience in program management and advocacy.

At Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service she developed and coordinated the Detained Torture Survivor Legal Support Network, the Legal Orientation Program and was the Director of the Access to Justice Unit. She has also worked internationally with human rights organizations in India and as a Human Rights Officer with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Bosnia, where she also served as the Head of the Sarajevo Field Office.

Michelle holds a B.A. in international studies from the University of Michigan, and J.D. from Georgetown University and is a member of the New York bar.