Laurence Benenson

As Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at the National Immigration Forum, Laurence Benenson works to advance immigration reform, with a focus on detention and immigration enforcement issues.

Benenson joined the Forum in 2013 and serves as the policy team’s point person on the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force and the Council on National Security and Immigration. He leads stakeholder meetings with congressional officials to advance immigration policy priorities on behalf of Forum constituencies and partner organizations, represents the Forum in briefings with federal officials and provides research and analysis on legislative proposals, legal developments and other relevant immigration policy developments.

In addition to his work at the Forum, Benenson practiced labor and employment law for five years at a law firm in Washington, D.C. and served 10 years as a member of the Virginia Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation, to which he received a gubernatorial appointment.

Benenson graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, Benenson resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and two daughters.