“…this ‘guerita cachinbona’ is not afraid to take on a battle, she tells the truth as she sees it, and does not suffer fools lightly. She will not deceive you.”

I gave myself the nickname “El Pana” in the year 2001 when I arrived in the United States in an attempt to leave behind the psychological and religious abuse of my family, but it was not until 2006, through friends, that I met the most professional and thorough attorney of my life – “cachinbona” as they say in Panama. She interviewed me and I decided to hire her, and in this way I began my lengthy process to legalize my immigration situation based on my sexual orientation and persecution. Hedi filed my application, and such was my luck that I was assigned an extremely homophobic asylum officer who decided not to grant me asylum. My case was referred to immigration court and I was placed in removal proceedings.

I left my first hearing with my heart in pieces, as I saw all of my dreams going up in smoke. Hedi, however, had me come to her office an hour later, and she told me that she did not give up so easily, and together we agreed to fight the decision of the asylum office and continue with my case in immigration court.

“…this ‘guerita cachinbona’ is not afraid to take on a battle, she tells the truth as she sees it, and does not suffer fools lightly. She will not deceive you.”

Hedi is both a professional and an attorney with compassion; I found in her both a lawyer and a friend.

Approximately two months went by and I had my deportation hearing. The prosecuting attorney was determined to have me deported, and requested more and more evidence to prove my case. She was argumentative and questioned me so harshly that several times the hearing had to be stopped to allow me to control my emotions. Hedi was with me every step of the way, in all three of my hearings, and, at the last hearing, this “guerita” (Hedi), who always has a trick up her sleeve, managed to persuade and convince the Court, and the Judge granted me asylum.

Hedi is honest and sincere, with real compassion. She has broken all the stereotypes about lawyers – observing a client across the desk as a potential for making money – no, as we say in my country, this “guerita cachinbona” is not afraid to take on a battle, she tells the truth as she sees it, and does not suffer fools lightly. She will not deceive you.

I recommend her without hesitation.

Javier De Los Santos