Laura is an ILD Founding Managing Attorney, providing consultation and legal representation to individuals through ILD’s Legal-Education partnerships within the California State University (CSU) and California Community College (CCC) systems, unique programs that provide immigration legal services to students and community members at dozens of public higher education campuses throughout the state. Laura also mentors immigration attorneys working in organizations throughout California as part of ILD’s California Immigrant Legal Fellowship, which aims to build the capacity and workforce of skilled immigration attorneys throughout the state. As a mentor attorney, she provides day-to-day supervision for six legal fellows placed in host organizations throughout the Central Valley who in turn provide direct representation to their clients and build their skills as immigration attorneys.

EXPERIENCE Laura has been a leader in the non-profit immigration field for over a decade. Prior to co-founding ILD, she was an attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza and the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN-SF). At Centro, Laura led a large, dynamic team of attorneys and advocates defending individuals and families against deportation and provided support and mentorship to staff attorneys and pro bono volunteers on complex deportation defense cases, including appeals. Laura has developed case management tools and other systems to ensure efficient and high-quality representation of clients in high-volume practices and has provided direct representation before immigration agencies and federal courts in a wide variety of immigration matters. She has also advocated to advance the goal of universal representation for immigrants facing deportation and to strengthen due process protections. She helped lead a successful campaign to pass San Francisco’s 2013 Due Process for All Ordinance, which sharply limits ICE entanglement in local law enforcement. Prior to attending law school, she was a paralegal at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, where she assisted immigrants detained in a private prison in Eloy, Arizona, and at Sanctuary for Families, where she advocated for immigrant survivors of domestic violence.

EDUCATION Laura holds a B.A. in Religious Studies and Interdisciplinary Concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies from Grinnell College and a J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law. She is a member of the New York bar and is fluent in Spanish.