Attorney specializes in law and borders.

• Position: People

On the day in May when heat and suffocation killed 19 illegal immigrants hiding in a smuggler's truck in Texas, Jack Pinnix, a Raleigh lawyer, had less than a month left as president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. When he took office last year, he wanted to protect the rights of immigrants and lessen the chances of such tragedies. Did he accomplish his goals? "Hell, no," says Pinnix, who remains on the executive board.

And the tide of immigration isn't going to dry up. He learned that from a trip to Crabtree Valley Mall a few days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "Every country in the world, every skin shade, every culture was there. This is the country today. We're never going to turn it back."

Pinnix, 55, grew up in Reidsville in what he calls the apartheid South. He was 13 when his father, a tobacco warehouseman, died. He earned a bachelor's in history from UNC Greensboro in 1969 and a law degree from Wake Forest University in 1973. While in school, Pinnix was an active Democrat and a delegate for Sen. George McGovern, who lost a bid for president during the Nixon landslide of 1972.

After law...