our board

BOARD CHAIR

Sarah is the Associate Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children and a Lecturer in the School of Law at Loyola University Chicago. Sarah has worked at the intersection of child migration and human rights for fifteen years, working with NGOs on complex human rights, migration, and international criminal law issues. Prior to joining Loyola, Sarah served as the National Case Director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights at the University of Chicago Law School, where she facilitated the expansion of the Young Center’s work in importing the framework for the best interests of the child under international law into the U.S. immigration system. Sarah spent seven years as a Clinical Instructor with the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic at DePaul University College of Law. She created and taught two clinical programs there: the Immigration Policy Advocacy Clinic and the Advanced Immigrant Detainee Clinic. Throughout her career, Professor Diaz has participated in several initiatives designed to create access to human rights for children and migrants on a local, state, and international level, including co-authoring the Illinois Voices Act, serving on the Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force and helping to develop and co-lead a DACA legal services collaborative that directed policy feedback for the Obama Administration.

BOARD TREASURER

Margot is the Executive Director of the Prison Law Office. She works on a wide range of issues related to conditions of confinement, access to health care, disability rights, use of force, and staff misconduct in California prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. Margot’s work involves trial, appellate, and post-judgment enforcement work, as well as policy advocacy. Before joining the PLO, Margot worked at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, where she practiced complex civil litigation in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level, focusing on civil rights matters. Margot was an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow, where she represented immigrants detained in Southern Arizona. She clerked for Judge Diana G. Motz of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Judge Catherine Blake of the US District Court for the District of Maryland. Margot received her JD from Yale Law School in 2009 and her BA from Harvard College.

BOARD SECRETARY

Talia Inlender is Deputy Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law. Prior to joining CILP, Talia spent 13 years at Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm, where she launched and led the agency’s detained deportation defense program and most recently served as Supervising Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigrant’s Rights Project. During her career, Talia has worked with thousands of people incarcerated by immigration authorities as well as deported military veterans seeking lawful return to the United States. Talia has also trained and supervised scores of attorneys, legal fellows, and law students representing non-citizens in their immigration proceedings—including serving as a Clinical Supervisor at the UCLA Immigration Clinic from 2009-2017. Talia has herself litigated cases on behalf of immigrants before Immigration Judges; the Board of Immigration Appeals; and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Talia’s direct service work has led to transformative impact litigation on behalf of immigrants. She was co-counsel on Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, the first lawsuit to establish a right to government-appointed counsel for a class of immigrants with serious mental disabilities, F.L.B. (formerly J.E.F.M.) v. Lynch and C.J.L.G. v. Barr, lawsuits to vindicate children’s right to counsel in immigration proceedings, and International Refugee Assistance Project v. Kelly, a lawsuit challenging the detention of an Afghan family entering on Special Immigrant Visas during the so-called “Muslim Ban.” Talia has also played a pivotal role in advocacy to expand local and state funding for legal representation in removal proceedings.

In January of 2017, Talia was among the first to arrive at LAX to help those detained by the “Muslim Ban,” earning the recognition of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti during his State of the City Address. She was also recognized as part of the Franco-Gonzalez team with the 2014 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award from the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association for excellence in litigation. Her community contributions have been recognized with the 2016 Community Partner Award from the Western State College of Law Immigration Clinic and the 2017 Karen Paull Colleague of the Year Award at Public Counsel. In 2008, Talia was awarded an Equal Justice Works fellowship.

Talia is a former judicial clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Talia is a graduate of Wesleyan University (B.A. 2001) and Yale Law School (J.D. 2007).