The American Civil Liberties Union attorney was selected for the award alongside 22 other fellows in recognition of his work seeking due process for immigrants facing deportation from the United States. An official announcement from the MacArthur Foundation praised the 43-year-old Mr Arulanantham for the work he has done ‘to set vital precedents to expand the rights of non-citizens’ through the US courts. He is the second immigration lawyer to receive a MacArthur grant in the last three years, following the Foundation’s decision to award one of its grants to attorney Margaret Stock in 2013.

Landmark cases

Mr Arulanantham heard of his selection for the grant just days after the US Appeals Court rejected a class action lawsuit he was spearheading to guarantee government-appointed counsel for immigrant children fleeing violence in Central America. He has also argued in several landmark cases on the issue of indefinite detention for immigrants in pending removal proceedings –  including Rodriguez vs. Robbins (2013), which secured the right for immigrants in pending removal proceedings to ask for bond if they had been detained for more than six months. In a phone interview with Fusion, Mr Arulanantham said he would trade is $625,000 award to secure counsel for immigrant children ‘in a heartbeat’.

Sources: Wall Street Journal; Fusion; MacArthur Foundation