Layli Miller-Muro is the Executive Director of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting women from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Miller-Muro founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in Matter of Kasinga , a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the U.S. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Kassindja co-authored about the case, Do They Hear You When You Cry? , Miller-Muro established Tahirih. (Washington, DC)

Camera by Shane Lamberth / Interview & Editing by Jennifer Brandel / Produced by Jennifer Brandel