Judith Bernstein Baker keeping up the fight for immigrant rights

When Judith Bernstein Baker was a child in New York City in the 1950s, she often visited her mother, a Polish-born seamstress, at work in the garment center.

At first, the women who labored beside Rae Bernstein were just like her, Yiddish-speaking European Jews.

Then came waves of Puerto Rican seamstresses, followed by other Latinos, followed by Asians.

"Her shop was like a little United Nations. Every few years, there was a different new immigrant group," said Baker, who quickly absorbed an enduring truth about America's newcomers. "Where do people work when they don't know the language? They work with their hands."

Baker, now 65, grew up to be a lawyer, and for more than a decade has worked as hard with her head and her heart on behalf of immigrants as her mother did at her sewing machine.

As director of HIAS and Council Migration Service, which grew from the 130-year-old Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Baker heads a program that provides free and nominal-cost legal services for indigent immigrants.

A legendary spark plug among immigration groups in the Philadelphia region, she will be the guest of honor Thursday at "Celebrating the Courage of Immigrants," a HIAS fund-raiser at the National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall.

"She is everywhere, doing everything, all the time," said Rabbi Linda Holtzman of Mishkan Shalom synagogue, where Baker is a congregant. "I have been pretty active on immigration issues and I don't think I've been to an event where Judi didn't appear" - either at the lectern or behind the scenes.

On a yearly budget of about $1.2 million raised from grants and donations, Baker's team of five HIAS lawyers has helped thousands of immigrants with a variety of issues, including refugees and asylees who have fled ethnic, religious, or other forms of persecution. The group has developed initiatives to help Haitians in America obtain temporary protective status following the 2010 earthquake, and has sought special visas for victims of domestic abuse and other violent crimes.

A decade ago, HIAS's clients were mostly Jewish refugees from Russia. Today, they hail from 60 countries, as far-flung as Iraq, Eritrea, and Bhutan.

"You learn about people's customs. You learn about people's bravery. . . . You realize how lucky you are," said Baker, describing what motivates her on days that often begin around 4:30 a.m.