Immigration Legal Services
Immigration Legal Services, a part of Catholic Charities’ Newcomer Network, provides direct legal immigration services to foreign-born individuals and their families.
About the Program
Immigration Legal Services works with cases that range from consultations to full representation. The program has represented individuals from more than 135 countries who needed legal assistance with an immigration matter. The program also trains lawyers to provide pro bono services and educates community groups on the latest immigration issues.
Additional Information
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To schedule a virtual immigration legal consultation, call the Intake Call Center at 240-858-0958 on Mondays from 1-5 p.m., on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., or on Wednesdays from 3-7 p.m. Or, use our online scheduling tool to make an appointment.
Know Your Rights Presentation
An accredited legal representative from Catholic Charities provides a brief introduction to immigration law in the United States.
Staff
Jacqueline Rishty
Director
Jacqueline Rishty is the director of Immigration Legal Services at Catholic Charities
of the Archdiocese of Washington. Rishty, a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, has served the
immigrant community as a Catholic Charities immigration attorney since 1990. She has
represented clients in matters ranging from asylum to citizenship and has advocated for their
rights in various forums, including testifying before Congress in 2000 in support of HR 3083, the
“Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 1999.” She has organized and run citizenship
workshops, “Know Your Rights Presentations,” and consultation clinics. In recognition of her
service, she was presented with the Griffin Award by Catholic Charities. Before obtaining her
law degree, she gained immigration experience as an intern at the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees and the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (now known as
USCIS). She is a member of the New York Bar.
Molly Albano
Staff Attorney
Molly Albano joined the Immigration Legal Services team in September 2022. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and a member of the Maryland Bar. During
law school, she was an active member of the Immigration Law and Policy Association and
served as a student attorney in the immigration clinic, representing clients before the Executive
Office of Immigration Review and advocating for immigrants’ rights in the Maryland General
Assembly. As a law student, she also worked in the Immigration Impact Lab of the Capital Area
Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and served as an Equal Justice Works fellow at Ayuda. Before
attending law school, she worked as a legal advocate in the Women’s Law Center of Maryland’s
Multi-Ethnic Domestic Violence Project. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and
international studies from Muhlenberg College. She is fluent in Spanish.
Sandra Ayala
Department of Justice (DOJ) Fully Accredited Legal Representative
Sandra Ayala has worked as a paralegal for Catholic Charities since 2002. Since that time, she has taken cases in a wide range of immigration issues, including family petitions, consular processing, citizenship, Violence Against Women Act relief, and U visas for victims of crimes. She is currently a Department of Justice fully accredited legal representative.
Ana Balmes
Administrative Assistant
Ana Balmes originally joined Catholic Charities as an intern with the Parish Partners Program in 2021. She then received an associate’s degree in human services. In 2022, she worked as a billing specialist at the Spanish Catholic Center, where she gained experience in administrative work. She is fluent in Spanish.
Jennifer Bibby-Gerth
Senior Managing Attorney
Jennifer Bibby-Gerth joined Catholic Charities in September 2013. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work and Spanish from the University of Alabama, a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee and a Juris Doctor from American University, Washington College of Law. Before her work with Catholic Charities, she spent six years working as an asylum officer for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Arlington Asylum Office. She represents clients seeking family and humanitarian-based immigration benefits. She specializes in representing applicants for asylum and applicants for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. She is licensed to practice law in Maryland. She speaks Spanish fluently and is a beginner at American Sign Language.
Elizabeth Britova
Project Assistant, Pro Bono
Elizabeth Britova joined Catholic Charities in 2022 as the project assistant for the pro
bono team. After graduating with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Spanish and European literature from Moscow State University, she worked for four years at a nonprofit dedicated to helping children with severe burn trauma in Moscow. After immigrating to the United States, she settled in the greater D.C. area and joined Catholic Charities. Having recently gone through the immigration process herself and with an extensive background in charitable work, she aims to use her knowledge and abilities to assist the program and its beneficiaries. She is fluent in Russian and speaks Spanish and French.
Kevin Brothers
Staff Attorney
Kevin Brothers joined the Catholic Charities in January 2023 after spending 15 years serving the immigrant community, first as a volunteer and later as a temporary staff member at Catholic Charities. Prior to joining Catholic Charities, he was an officer in the U.S. Navy and U.S Navy Reserve. He holds a bachelors’ degree from Georgetown University, a master’s degree from the National Intelligence University and a law degree from the Washington College of Law at American University, where he was an editor on the American University Law Review. He is a member of the Maryland Bar and speaks French.
Becca Brunty Lee
Supervising Attorney
Becca Brunty Lee joined the Immigration Legal Services team in July 2024. Previously, she was an immigration attorney with Ayuda, where she represented D.C. residents in humanitarian and family-based immigration cases. She received a Juris Doctor degree from American University, Washington College of Law and is a member of the Washington, D.C., Bar. As a law student, she was a student attorney with the Immigrant Justice Clinic and a dean’s fellow with the International Human Rights Law Clinic. She also worked as an intern with immigration legal service organizations Human Rights First and Just Neighbors. She worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project to serve displaced persons in Jordan and Afghanistan. Before law school, she taught English in South Korea. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and anthropology from Saint Louis University. She is fluent in Spanish and a beginner in Korean.
Carla Cabrera
Administrative Office Coordinator
Carla Cabrera joined Immigration Legal Services in 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in hearing and speech science from the University of Maryland. Before joining Catholic Charities, she worked in clinical research setting in oncology. She is fluent in Spanish.
Nora Canchez-Gonzales
Department of Justice (DOJ) Fully Accredited Legal Representative
Nora Canchez-Gonzales, an attorney from Peru, earned a law degree from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. Her pursuit of legal excellence led her to the United States, where she attained dual master’s degrees from American University. She joined
Catholic Charities in 2018. She zealously represents clients in immigration courts, the
Board of Immigration Appeals and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Before her current role, she was pivotal in managing the Pro Bono Program.
Idna Castellon
Staff Attorney
Before joining Catholic Charities, Idna Castellon worked as an immigration attorney at Sanabria & Associates and represented individuals applying for special immigrant juvenile status and
individuals in removal proceedings. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a
minor in Holocaust and genocide studies from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a
Juris Doctorate from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. During law school,
she worked as a certified legal intern for Villanova’s Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic. As a law student, she was a staff writer and symposium editor for the Villanova Environmental Law Journal. Following law school, she worked as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Robert H. Surles and Katharine L. Mayer at the New Castle County Court of Common Pleas in Wilmington, Del. She is licensed to practice law in New Jersey and Maryland.
Megan E. Cox
Staff Attorney, Pro Bono
Megan Cox received her law degree from American University Washington College of Law and her master’s degree in international affairs from American University School of International Service. Before joining Catholic Charities, she was a Gallogly public interest legal fellow at the immigration nonprofit Kids in Need of Defense in Northern Virginia. There, she represented and served unaccompanied immigrant children with mental and physical illnesses and disabilities. She represented unaccompanied minors for affirmative asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T visa, adjustment of status, humanitarian parole, Temporary Protected Status, employment authorization and deferred action. She represented these cases before USCIS, immigration court, and local juvenile and domestic relations court (including at trial). While a student attorney at AU’s International Human Rights Law clinic, she successfully represented a defensive asylum case before the immigration court. In addition to her client work, her fellowship project focused on laying the foundation for a medical-legal partnership between Kids in Need of Defense and a local federally qualified health center. She is a member of the D.C. Bar and a graduate of Oberlin College. She is fluent in Spanish and learning French.
Yajaira Flores
Paralegal
Yajaira Flores joined Immigration Legal Services in January 2023. Previously, she was a navigator case manager for the Migrant Case Management program. Her work consisted of assisting vulnerable migrant families in accessing needed services and providing holistic support. Born and raised in El Salvador, she moved to the United States when she was 13 years old. She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology from Radford University. Before joining Catholic Charities, she worked at a private law firm for two years, where she acquired experience in immigration law.
Karina Garay
Paralegal, Unaccompanied Children Program, and Caseworker, Legal Orientation Program for Custodians (LOPC)
Karina Garay, a first-generation college graduate from University of Maryland College Park, joined Catholic Charities in 2022. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice and graduated cum laude. She has four years of experience working at a law firm as a paralegal, specializing in immigration law. She also has volunteered with Catholic Charities’ Strong Family Initiative Program. Her work with Legal Orientation Program for Custodians consists of assisting unaccompanied immigrant children and their custodians in accessing needed resources and services. She has successfully filed Office on Trafficking in Persons requests for unaccompanied minors that have been victims of abuse in the United States or in their native countries and has facilitated training for caseworkers. She was promoted to paralegal for the Unaccompanied Children Program and continues to provide social service assistance to unaccompanied minors.
Christina Gross
Paralegal
Christina Gross joined Catholic Charities as a paralegal in 2022. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature from the University of Maryland College Park. She began her career in immigration assistance, specializing in citizenship as an AmeriCorps member for CASA de Maryland in Rockville in 2019. There, she taught citizenship classes, mentored extensively and spearheaded efforts to assist managers in establishing protocols for continuing application assistance virtually after the COVID-19 pandemic. She also registered and prepared the virtual attendance for about 50 applicants for each of the six successful virtual citizenship clinics, which she also hosted. Before that, she first worked in political research, media consulting and legislative assistance. She also taught adults and children English as a Second Language at D.C.-area immigration services organizations for six years.
Helena Guerra
LOPC Manager & Department of Justice (DOJ) Fully Accredited Legal Representative
Helena Guerra, an immigrant herself, oversees the Legal Orientation Program for Custodians of
Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (LOPC). Funded by the Executive Office for Immigration
Review under the Department of Justice, this program operates nationally, with LOPC DC being
the largest, assisting over 700 custodians and children every month. She is a skilled speaker
with experience in leading training and presentations. Before joining Catholic Charities, she
worked with children in immigration detention. Her previous experience includes working with
Antonio Guterres, the current U.N. secretary-general. She holds an LL.B. and a master’s in
tax law from the University of Lisbon, as well as an LL.M. from George Washington Law School. Accredited by the Department of Justice, she offers legal advice and representation to individuals in immigration proceedings. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Estefania Higgins
Pro Bono Senior Managing Attorney
Estefania Chavez Higgins received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Tennessee College
of Law. Before joining Catholic Charities, she served as the interim director for the Legal
Department at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) after serving 1-1/2 years as a staff attorney. While at CARECEN, she represented victims of crimes and counseled clients on available immigration relief. During law school, she participated in the Immigration Legal Clinic and directed the Tennessee College of Law’s U-Visa Alternative Spring Break Program, which provided legal assistance to the immigrant community. She was awarded the William Lecher Jr. Public Service Price and recognized by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a 2014 Law Student for Justice. She is a member of the Washington, D.C., and Tennessee Bars.
Abigail Lo
AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer
Abigail Lo graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in Humanitarian Studies and Theatre Performance. She is completing a year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. Prior to joining the Immigration Legal Services team, she organized various community service programs at Fordham and worked as a K-12 tutor.
Ingrid Mazariegos
Paralegal
Ingrid Mazariegos joined Catholic Charities in 2015 as an administrative assistant. After gaining experience in immigration, she was promoted to paralegal. Before joining Catholic Charities, she worked for five years at the World Bank. She graduated from Trinity University in May 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in criminal justice. As the daughter of immigrants, she is happy to be serving the immigrant community.
Heruy Mebrahtu
Senior Managing Attorney
Heruy Mebrahtu completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California-Berkeley
and obtained his law degree from the University of Iowa. His inspiration to work in immigration
law stems from his positive law school clinic experience during which he worked on a
complicated asylum claim from Sierra Leone, “The ability to make profound and positive
changes in an immigrant’s life is what drives me. I myself am an immigrant, so I appreciate the
hoops and hurdles immigrants have to go through.” He began his legal career in 2003 working for the former Spanish Catholic Center, now part of Catholic Charities, as the sole staff
attorney. He is licensed in Maryland and Washington. He is fluent in Spanish and speaks basic
Amharic.
Cindy Mendez
Call Center Specialist
Cindy Mendez received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 2004 from Trinity
University. She worked with Catholic Charities from 2011 to 2015, providing families in crisis
with referrals, advocacy and family support. She joined the Immigration Legal
Services team as a call center specialist in 2022 and is motivated to help the immigrant
community with the intake process and its various needs.
Shaileen M. Mercado
Staff Attorney
Shaileen M. Mercado joined Catholic Charities in 2022. She obtained her Juris
Doctorate degree in 2020 from the Interamerican University School of Law in Puerto Rico, where she participated in the Human Rights Clinic. Before joining Catholic Charities, she
worked with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona as a staff attorney
working with adults who were detained and in removal proceedings. She is fluent in Spanish and
is a member of the Washington, D.C., Bar.
Yanina Ortiz
Paralegal, Pro Bono
Yanina joined Catholic Charities in 2023. She was born in Argentina and immigrated to
the United States when she was 11 years old. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political
science from Norfolk State University in 2013, she worked in a small firm as an immigration
paralegal for three years. For five years, she worked for a nonprofit as a Victims of
Crime Act family law paralegal.
Laura Prada
Department of Justice (DOJ) Partially Accredited Legal Representative
Laura Prada earned a Bachelor of Law degree from Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Bogota, Colombia, and worked supervising the corporate legal team of a large department store in the city. She moved to the United States in 2016. Before joining Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C., she worked for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland as a Latina services navigator and sexual assault advocate for its Spanish Catholic program. Her Legal Orientation Program for Custodians of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children work focuses on connecting unaccompanied youth and their families to social services and resources in the community.
Celia Rivas
Immigration Services Coordinator
Celia Rivas joined Catholic Charities in 1991. She holds a master’s in law degree from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University in Peru. She is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the legal clinic, which focuses on immigration matters and handles worker’s rights and domestic violence cases. She is widely known for her immigration expertise and often serves as an adviser to immigrant officials in Washington who are concerned with the impact of new policies on the immigrant community. She represented The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in the State of Maryland’s Panel on Welfare Reform and was appointed by the governor to the Maryland Advisory Council for New Americans. She also serves on the advisory panel of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Headquarters and District Offices. In 2008, she was appointed by the Montgomery County executive to be a member of the Latin American Advisory Group. She also has served on the Archdiocese of Washington Domestic Violence – Family Peace Project Team and the Maryland Catholic Conference’s Conexiones Steering Committee. In 2002, she was awarded the Order of Merit by the archdiocese.
Brandon Samples
Staff Attorney
Brandon Samples joined Catholic Charities in April 2024. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies and Spanish from the University of South Carolina and a Juris Doctor from American University, Washington College of Law, where he focused on human rights and international law. He served on the American University International Law Review and worked as a student attorney in the International Human Rights Law Clinic, where he received a dean’s award for representing a client in removal proceedings. He has worked as a family-based immigration paralegal and has since worked on matters including asylum, naturalization, family-based visas and adjustment of status. He is fluent in Spanish and learning Portuguese. He is a member of the District of Columbia bar.
Marisa Tillman
Staff Attorney
Marisa Tillman received a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School and a
Master of Public Policy at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and international relations from Bethel University. Before
joining Catholic Charities in 2023, she worked as a lead attorney at the St. Frances Cabrini
Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston/Houston. There, she represented unaccompanied children before immigration court, state court and at the Houston asylum office. During law school, she served as a certified student attorney and as a student director of the Detainee Rights Clinic within the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, where she made oral arguments before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. She also was a Robina Public Interest Scholar, a Human Rights Center Fellow and a Minnesota Justice Foundation Fellow. She is a member of the Texas and Maryland Bar.
She is fluent in Spanish and Tagalog.
Johanna Quintanilla
Staff Attorney
Johanna Quintanilla joined the Immigration Legal Services team in May 2024. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and a member of the Virginia Bar. During law school, she was an active member of LALSA and Women of Color Collective and served as a student attorney in the Civil Rights Clinic, representing clients in the Fourth Circuit. As a law student, she also was a fellow for the Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, where she represented 24 immigrant workers in an employment discrimination case. Before law school, she worked at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Civil Rights Division, Catholic Charities Boston and Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Maryland. She is fluent in Spanish and intermediate in French.
Margaret Walsh Rudmann
Senior Attorney
Margaret Walsh Rudmann joined Catholic Charities in 2019. Previously, she worked as a staff attorney with the Maryland Immigrant Legal Assistance Project at the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland. She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the University of Maryland School of Law. Following her college graduation in 1997, she joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and spent a year serving as a paralegal at Immigration Legal Services, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Baltimore (now Esperanza Center). After her volunteer year, she returned to work at Immigration Legal Services in Baltimore as a staff paralegal, fully BIA accredited representative and, later, as a staff attorney. After a brief move to
Norfolk, Va., she returned to the Washington area and worked as a staff attorney at the Hispanic
Committee of Virginia, which later became part of Northern Virginia Legal Services. She speaks
Spanish and is licensed to practice in Maryland.
Pamela Yee
Senior Supervising Attorney, Pro Bono
Pamela Yee received her Juris Doctorate from The Catholic University of America and
specialized in immigration, removal proceedings and criminal-immigration. Before joining
Catholic Charities, she was legal director at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), an organization that fosters the comprehensive development of the immigrant population in the Washington metropolitan region. She was the clinical director of the Immigrant Defense Program at Rising for Justice, where she founded a clinical teaching program providing representation for noncitizens detained by ICE, as well as a clinical supervisor in their Criminal Division. She began her immigration career at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition as an attorney for the Virginia Adult Detainee program and later as the managing attorney for the Maryland Adult Detention program. She has given numerous trainings and seminars at conferences, law schools, law firms and clinics regarding asylum, U/T visas, waivers, representation of unaccompanied minors, trauma-informed lawyering, immigration detention and removal proceedings. She is licensed in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and speaks Spanish, French and Chinese.
Get Involved by Becoming a Pro Bono Attorney
The Immigration Legal Services Pro Bono Program assists low-income foreign-born individuals in finding pro bono representation for their immigration case. We serve clients in a variety of immigration matters, including asylum, NACARA, SIJS, T/U-visas, VAWA, removal proceedings, adjustment of status, temporary protected status and renewal of work authorization documents.
We strive to offer our pro bono attorneys all the resources and mentorship required for successful outcomes. We offer training and Q&A sessions to ensure attorneys are able to keep up to date. We provide samples, trainings and resources, and we review fillings and even conduct moot hearings, if desired. Read about how the pro bono program has grown to better serve clients and attorneys.
How Attorneys Can Get Involved
- Sign up for our weekly Action Alert
- Take a case pro bono
- Mentor an attorney
- Become a volunteer attorney – (24 hours a week for three months)
- Provide translation services
- Provide administrative assistance.
To apply, send to Immigration Legal Services Pro Bono Program:
- Bar license
- Certificate of good standing
- Resume
- Proof of malpractice insurance (exceptions can be made).
Immigration Legal Service offers internships for law students (1L – post-grad) through our legal semester in practice internship program, as well as Spanish language internships for Spanish speaking students (undergraduate and graduate students). If you are interested in learning more, contact the Pro Bono Program at probono@cc-dc.org.
Other Ways to Get Involved
Volunteer
Family support volunteers compassionately listen to immigrants and assist them in assembling materials for applications for Inadmissibility Grounds Waivers. Learn more about volunteering with Immigration Legal Services administration.
Donate
Your gift to Immigration Legal Services will give those most at risk the opportunity to move from crisis to stability.
Interested in providing an education care package to an unaccompanied minor? Visit Immigration Legal Services’ Amazon Wish List.
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