Attorney Profile
U.S. Immigration & Nationality Attorney
- Sole practitioner.
- Fluent in Spanish and English; working knowledge of Portuguese
- With 20 years experience in deportation defense with emphasis in human rights abuses and asylum.
- Practice concentrates (but not limited to) Hispanic population, with special interest in concerns of political asylum, family reunification and deportation defense.
Particular emphasis in defense of gays/lesbians/transgender clients.
Empowering My Clients
There is no such thing as “gay” asylum. Rather, every person who has suffered persecution on account of being different or not fitting in with his or her cultural norms, is entitled to seek refuge and protection under the laws of asylum in the United States. Included among these groups are members of the gay community – gay, lesbian and transgender – who suffer tremendously in their countries of origin and who are not protected by the authorities.
My greatest triumph is turning a client’s pain into the achievement of legal status. Years of shame and guilt, memories of terrible humiliation and pain, while difficult to recount, are the pathway to achieving the right to live legally in the United States. I begin a case with an individual who believes he or she has little or no self-worth, and see a totally different person at the end of the process, who now feels pride, achievement, and is working towards the eventual goal of U.S. citizenship. To me, this is the essence of being a great lawyer – empowering my clients.
I take particular interest in representing those persons who have never had anyone advocate for them. I understand the difficulty of addressing difficult and intimate topics, which perhaps have never been openly discussed. I understand that the asylum process requires a great deal of compassion and understanding, yet that the focus must always be on the legal issues involved, and the constantly evolving case law. Asylum law has always been my first love, as it involves real people, real situations, and the opportunity to make huge and positive differences in the lives of the individuals who are my clients.
