Michelle Brané
Michelle Brané joined the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families as senior staff earlier this year. Now, with the forced resignation of U.S. Border Patrol Chief and Trump holdover Rodney Scott announced in late June, Brané will play a larger supporting and advisory role for the Task Force. Brané has notably been against historical border policy and the separation of families.
The Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, a function of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was established on Feb. 2 with the goal of reuniting children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. With the support of the task force leaders, Secretary of Homeland Security Ali Mayorkas, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the first reunited families were announced in May.
Brané, the task force’s executive director, joins DHS from Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), a nonprofit working to protect and uplift refugee women and children. Brané brings over 14 years of experience working with and advocating for migrant rights, with a particular focus on the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to WRC, Brané served as an attorney advisor for the Board of Immigration Appeals at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she accrued overlapping work experience with current DHS Secretary and task force Chair Alejandro Mayorkas.
After the DOJ, Brané consistently worked in the human rights space at Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and National Treasury Employees Union. Other members with a nonprofit background on the task force include Jennifer Daskal, Cindy Yung-Leh Huang and Marc Rosenblum.
An executive limited waiver was required for Brané to serve on the task force.
