"One would be hard pressed to find the logical connection between a Russian millionaire, a Guatemalan housekeeper, a Bolivian scholar, a feminist writer and Elian Gonzalez. Of course, if one knew Michael Maggio then the answer would be obvious."

- Brad Dwin, Washington College of Law's the Advocate

             

Selection of Landmark Cases

Filartiga v. Peña-Irala

In 1980 Michael Maggio took on what arguably is the most significant human rights case in American history and his most influential, Filartiga v. Peña-Irala. The case is seminal not only for what it held - that torture by a government official anywhere in the world violates universal human rights and that a foreign official may be held accountable in U.S. court - but also for what it triggered - the fusing of international legal rights with domestic judicial remedies. The background of the Filartiga case is tragic and heroic, but at the same time it exemplifies Michael's career and impact on human rights.

In March 1976, a prominent doctor in Asuncion, Paraguay, Dr. Joel Filartiga, confronted the unthinkable: Joelito, his 17-year old son, was kidnapped while sleeping, tortured, and killed by Paraguayan police allegedly in retaliation for his father's political activities against the brutality of Paraguay's Stroessner regime. Dolly Filartiga, Joelito's older sister, was notified in the middle of the night that she needed to retrieve her brother's battered body from the home of Americo Peña-Irala, a neighbor and former inspector general of the Asuncion police. Instead of quickly burying him as the family was warned to do, they photographed and publicized what happened to him.

 

Shortly after Joelito's death, the family made several attempts to bring Peña-Irala to justice in Paraguay, but to no avail. Dolly became despondent and unable to resume her normal life. She was harassed as were other family members. Upon learning in 1978 that Peña-Irala was living in New York, Dolly Filartiga came to the United States looking for her brother's alleged perpetrator. She contacted Michael Maggio, an acquaintance of the Filartiga family, and discussed filing an asylum application.

 

After Michael Maggio learned of her circumstances, he contacted the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York to explore initiating civil proceedings against Peña-Irala. Together they filed suit, working throughout the night to draft the complaint so that it could be filed in federal district court and served before Peña-Irala left the country. The case was dismissed but appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

In 1980, two years later, Judge Irving Kaufman declared in his landmark decision that, "[t]he torturer has become - like the pirate and slave trade before him - an enemy of all mankind". He concluded that torture constituted an actionable "tort in violation of the law of nations," relying on an obscure federal law enacted in 1789, the Alien Tort Claims Act. The appeal was sustained. Peña-Irala, however, was returned to Paraguay, and the $10.4 million judgment against him was never paid to the Filartiga family.

What the Filartigas did win, however, was a legal strategy that left a lasting legacy for the human rights movement. This judicial precedent spawned more than a quarter century of human rights litigation and turned many human rights activists, including Michael Maggio, into life-long human rights and immigration lawyers.

Margaret Randall

In 1984, Michael Maggio became the immigration lawyer for Margaret Randall, a U.S.-born feminist writer who praised leftist revolutions and had lived for many years in Mexico and adopted Mexican citizenship before returning to live in New Mexico.  In 1986 an Immigration Judge ruled that her writings made her deportable under the McCarran-Walter Act for advocacy of '"world communism.'' Finally, in 1989, based largely on arguments that Michael Maggio developed, the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that Ms. Randall never lost her American citizenship in the first place, and therefore should never have been ordered deported.

Alexandre Konanykhine

When a young Russian millionaire banker, Alexandre P. Konanykhine, found himself in the gun sights of organized crime, he fled to New York, then Washington. INS agents arrested him and his wife at their Watergate apartment on a visa violation. The Russians claimed Konanykhine embezzled $8 million in bank funds, and they threatened that unless the INS turned him over, the United States could not occupy its new embassy in Moscow.

Konanykhine was granted asylum in 1999 but was rearrested in 2004 and came within minutes of being put on a plane and deported to Russia. "Michael saved my and my late wife's lives not once but twice. He was among the people we admired the most. I'm forever grateful for the privilege of knowing him," said Alex Konanykhine.

Elián González

Michael Maggio was a key part of the legal team that advised Juan Miguel González, the father of Elián González who was found at sea following an accident while trying to flee Cuba with his mother. Many doubted that Juan Miguel  would be successful in his efforts to rescue the little Cuban boy from his Miami relatives, but Michael was confident that law and justice were clear: that single fathers have a right to choose where they want to live with their children. "The rights of poor fathers trump the perceived rights of wealthier distant relatives," said Michael Maggio at the time. 

Waskar Ari

Michael Maggio represented Bolivian scholar Waskar Ari, a Georgetown University graduate barred from reentering the United States to teach at the University of Nebraska. Waskar stopped home in Bolivia for a quick family visit in June of 2005 and found that his student visa was canceled. He could not get a replacement work visa to return to the United States because the Unied States government had discovered “derogatory information” in Waskar's file.

Michael represented UNL in its lawsuit pro bono, believing Waskar may have been linked to Bolivian President Evo Morales, a frequent and harsh critic of the Bush administration. After two years Waskar's visa petition was approved. “Finally, justice prevails. The vetting that Dr. Ari has endured is just short of what someone goes through to become a saint," commented Michael.

UNL received no word from Homeland Security on why it had been concerned about Waskar or why it ultimately gave him the green light. On Michael Maggio, Dr. Ari said, "His life and work were a blessing for me."

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                       I nformation provided by sources deemed reliable. No guarantees are made to its accuracy. Subject to errors and ommissions.