AILA Presents Jesse M. Bless with the 2025 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recognizes Jesse M. Bless of Bless Litigation, LLC., with the 2025 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law.

Key among the accomplishments listed by his nominators was Mr. Bless’s successful efforts in 2024 to become “the first known litigator to win summary judgment against USCIS regarding the denial of T nonimmigrant petitions. In each case, the district court judge reversed the government's determination that the survivors did not experience severe forms of human trafficking because they had agreed to be smuggled.” Further, his nominators noted that Mr. Bless has “continued to pioneer the litigation of adoption denials. In 2024, Jesse reversed more than a dozen orphan petition denials and won an incredible victory in a reported case.” He has also been involved in complex class actions.

Mr. Bless is the founder and owner of Bless Litigation, LLC. but his career has been varied and included government service as well as private practice, and work at AILA itself. In 2004, he was selected for the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Department of Justice (DOJ). After working at the DOJ between September 2004 and May 2017, he joined the Law Offices of Jeff Goldman in May 2017. In September 2019, he was selected as the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s first Director of Federal Litigation. There, he co-counseled on various class actions and challenges to unlawful policies, including the entry-bans, health care proclamation, public charge rule, 2020 fee rule, and the Department of Labor (DOL) wage rule. In September 2022, Jesse started Bless Litigation, LLC.

As his nominators concluded, Mr. Bless “is a brilliant litigator and invaluable collaborative AILA colleague [who] has mentored many with invaluable advice on their litigation” and for this reason, among many others, AILA is proud to recognize Jesse M. Bless as the 2025 Wasserman Award winner.

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The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.