Jenifer Rajkumar

New York State Representative

New York State Assembly Member Rajkumar was appointed as the Director of Immigration Affairs & Special Counsel for New York State in the age of Trump. Jenifer has led the Liberty Defense Project, a first-in-the-nation $31 million dollar state-led public-private project to assist immigrants in obtaining legal services. She also represented New York State in litigation before Administrative Law Judges. She served as an ethics officer, handling ethics matters for the State. She was a state-wide surrogate for the Governor on the State’s signature policy items. She currently serves on the Legal Advisory Council of Sanctuary for Families.

Jenifer worked as a lawyer in fighting corporate fraud and excess, and advocating for workers, women, and families in vulnerable situations. Later, she served at high levels of state government, appointed by the Governor of New York as a Special Counsel and as Director of Immigration Affairs for New York State. She is also a Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York (CUNY). She has spoken on public interest law and policy at Stanford Law School, CUNY Law School and Harvard Law School.

With early roots in public service and giving back, Jenifer graduated from Stanford Law School with distinction for her pro bono legal work on behalf of vulnerable individuals. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at the top of her class magna cum laude, phi beta kappa where she received the Alice Paul Award for exemplary service to women and families. The Queens Courier honored her as a 2017 “Rising Star” and the Queens Tribune awarded her its “Glass Ceiling Award” for being a path-breaking woman serving the Queens community. She was also part of the legal team of Velez v. Novartis, ranked by the United Nations as one of the top 10 cases in the world advancing women’s equality.