Daniel N. Vara, Jr.

Board Member

Mr. Vara has been nationally recognized as one of the lead immigration authorities in the United States, and was the District/Chief Legal Counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), United States Department of Justice, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Miami Division, from 1990-2003.

Mr. Vara, in his role with INS / ICE and working extensively with such agencies as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, was lead legal counsel and litigator on some of the highest profile immigration law cases in the United States. These cases have included human rights violations, organized crime, international narcotics trafficking, counterintelligence efforts, and counterterrorism matters. He was lead counsel or had an integral role in such cases as the prosecution of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the Sami Al-Arian investigation and trial, the Mazen Al Najjar classified evidence litigation, and the Imran Mandhai and Adham Hassoun counterterrorism cases.He was lead counsel or had an integral role in such cases as the prosecution of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the Sami Al-Arian investigation and trial, the Mazen Al Najjar classified evidence litigation, and the Imran Mandhai and Adham Hassoun counterterrorism cases.

Mr. Vara also identified, developed, and litigated the novel legal theory which resulted in the 1999 precedent decision, In re: Jorge Luis Rodriguez, on the use of Foreign Agent Registration Act statutes to arrest and remove espionage agents from the United States; a theory that has been used as the basis for many of the successful foreign agent criminal prosecution actions since then.