Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Jeanne M. Atkinson, Executive Director

Jeanne M. Atkinson was appointed CLINIC's Executive Director in March, 2013.  Ms. Atkinson most recently served as the Director of Catholic Charities’ Immigration Legal Services (ILS) program for the Archdiocese of Washington.   She worked for Catholic Charities since 1992, directing their highly active and successful legal services program – which operates out of four locations – in 1997 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2013.  Ms. Atkinson also directed Catholic Charities’ Refugee Center.  During her time working at Catholic Charities, Ms. Atkinson helped expand ILS and was a partner in establishing the Family Justice Center in Montgomery County.

Prior to her role as CLINIC's Executive Director,  Ms. Atkinson  provided advice and feedback on the full range of training, support and programmatic activities that CLINIC offers to its affiliates through CLINIC's Diocesan Advisory Committee.

From 1989 to 1991, Ms. Atkinson worked as the Legalization Appeals Project Coordinator for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  Her passion for immigration was sparked while interning with Catholic Charities in 1987, during which time, she focused on legalization.  Ms. Atkinson holds a J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law and is a member of the Pennsylvania bar.

Maura Moser, Chief of Staff

Ms. Moser has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago and a B.A., magna cum laude, in Anthropology from Brandeis University, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Prior to coming to CLINIC, she worked as an English as a Second Language instructor. She is fluent in Spanish.

Emilynda Clomera, Director

Ms. Clomera joined CLINIC nine years ago.  She has a B.S. in Accounting from George Mason University School of Management and vast experience in grants and nonprofit financial management and accounting. She completed her internship with Hoffman, Fitzgerald & Snyder PC in McLean, VA as an auditor. Ms. Clomera has served as CLINIC’s accountant and later as Controller and has an established history in handling CLINIC’s accounting and grant financials. Her excellent performance has earned her positions of increased responsibility in the organization leading to her current role as Director.  Ms. Clomera oversees CLINIC’s annual audit and works closely with the Finance and Audit Committee of CLINIC’s Board of Directors.

Jessie Dagdag, Accountant

Mr. Dagdag comes to CLINIC with more than 15 years of accounting experience gained from both non-profit and profit organizations.  Mr. Dagdag’s  career started at The International Rice Research Institute, where he held a position responsible for the financial reporting requirements of projects funded by United States Agency for International Development and United Nations Development Programme.  After that, Mr. Dagdag worked with diverse multinationals and held senior positions until he relocated to Washington DC.  Mr. Dagdag holds a BS in Accounting and is a member of Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Abeba Fesuh, Staff Assistant

Ms. Fesuh is originally from Ethiopia, but has also lived in Zimbabwe. She is a trained educator and worked as a school principal in Ethiopia for four years.  As principal, she oversaw more than 600 students from kindergarten through grade 9. Ms. Fesuh earned a Diploma in Religious Education and attended the Teacher Training Course at the Wadzanai Training Centre in Zimbabwe. She also completed the Development Education Leadership Teams in Action year long training program offered by the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat. She speaks five languages in addition to English. These include Amharic, Tigrina, Oromo and Saho.  She joined CLINIC in 2005.

Fanette Jones, Business Manager

Ms. Jones is responsible for administering human resource policies, programs and practices, including planning, organizing, developing, implementing, coordinating and directing. She directly supervises employees and carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws.  This includes, but is not limited to formulating CLINIC’s policies and procedures for the Human Resources Department and recommending policies and practices to management.   In her role as Business Manager she’s responsible for providing vision, leadership, planning, project coordination, and management for the development of a cost-effective HRMS while concurrently facilitating efficient operations to meet current and future business needs within the organization; and managing and maintaining the HRIS database, personnel records, and regulatory reporting.
Ms. Jones previously worked as a strategic, human resource professional at companies such as American Rivers and Child Trends.  She brings to CLINIC over 13 years of Human Resource knowledge, experience, and best practices, and twenty years of non-profit experience.  She is currently studying for her Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) Certification to be taken in April 2011.

Tenzin Yangchen, Accounting Clerk

Ms. Yangchen is a graduate of the School of Management at George Mason University. She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Accounting. Originally from Tibet but raised in Dharamsala, India, she speaks three languages: English, Tibetan and Hindi. Before joining CLINIC, Ms. Yangchen worked as an administrative assistant at Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore & Bunn, P.C.

H. Andrés Abella, Communications Officer - Grants Management and Training Support

Mr. Abella is a journalist and editor with more than 15 years of experience writing news and features for mainstream, trade, and advocacy publications in California and the Washington Metropolitan Area. Until recently, he was the Senior Bilingual Editor for AARP VIVA and Associate Editor and Washington DC Correspondent for Diagnostic Imaging Magazine. As a global activist, Mr. Abella has volunteered for human rights and social justice campaigns with a focus on immigration and indigenous rights in the U.S. and South America. He holds a B. A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University and a Certificate in Broadcasting from Universidad Andrés Bello-AIEP in Chile.

Patricia Maloof, Ph.D., Senior Grants Development Officer

Dr. Maloof is an anthropologist who has worked with refugees and immigrants in the U.S. for more than twenty years. She was formerly the Director of the Office of Refugee Programs with USCCB/Migration Refugee Services, Project Director for Refugee Health with the Washington Kurdish Institute, and the Program Coordinator for the Trafficked Children Initiative with Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service. Dr. Maloof advocates, publishes, and conducts research on barriers to health care access and the provision of services to refugees and immigrants. Two of her publications can be read on-line: Muslim Refugees in the United States and Mind/Body/Spirit: Toward a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Health. Dr. Maloof is also trained as a trainer for medical interpreters and is a part-time faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the Catholic University of America. She serves as a volunteer with the Program Services Committee of the March of Dimes, Maryland-National Capital Area Chapter. She is also a Board member for Voice of Love, an all volunteer non-profit dedicated to promoting the access of linguistically diverse survivors of torture, war trauma and sexual violence to services that advance their healing, growth, and achievement. She has a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the Catholic University of America and a B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from George Washington University.

Claudia Ornelas, Communications Officer-Resource Development

Claudia Ornelas joined CLINIC in November 2010 as the Donor Services Coordinator. She holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of San Diego and a B.A. in International Relations and History with a specialization in Latin America from Boston University. Before joining CLINIC, she served as a Math, Science, and English teacher in Saraburi, Thailand. Prior to that, she held administrative, communication, and development positions with the Trans- Border Institute, Wildcoast/Costasalvaje, and the Council on International Education Exchange. She is fluent in Spanish.

Tessa Winkler, Communications Officer/Web Content Coordinator

Ms. Winkler joined CLINIC in June 2011 to promote CLINIC’s work in the public arena, including web design and social media strategies.  She earned an M.A. in International Communications from American University and holds a B.A. in Spanish and Communications from Saint Vincent College.  After earning her undergraduate degree, Ms. Winkler served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, working as a Basic Needs Caseworker for Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh and as a Refugee Resettlement Caseworker for Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Pittsburgh.  No stranger to CLINIC, Ms. Winkler interned with the Center for Immigrant Rights’ Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) Pro Bono Project throughout her graduate studies. 

Jeff Chenoweth, Director

Mr. Chenoweth is CLINIC’s Director of Capacity Building within the Center for Citizenship and Immigrant Communities. The Center seeks to help nonprofits start, expand and sustain charitable legal immigration services for low-income immigrants and refugees. Mr. Chenoweth supervises Field Support Coordinators assigned to work intensively with its affiliates to expand and professionalize their program management and direct legal services. He also serves as a Field Support Coordinator. Mr. Chenoweth and other Field Support Coordinators train on immigration program management in classroom and webinar settings. The staff also produces written documents and online toolkits helping nonprofits build more legal immigration service capacity. Mr. Chenoweth also manages CLINIC’s acceptance and renewal of Catholic members and non-Catholic subscribers, together comprising CLINIC’s network of affiliates. Mr. Chenoweth holds a Master’s Degree in social work with an emphasis on administration and family/child welfare. He has worked in the field of nonprofit immigration services since 1986 at the local, national and international level. Previous to CLINIC, he has managed refugee resettlement projects in the United States and in Saudi Arabia for Immigration and Refugee Services of America. He also served as a refugee resettlement Case Manger for Jewish Family Services and Lutheran Social Services.

Silvana Arista, Project Attorney, Legal Orientation Program for Custodians (LOPC) of Unaccompanied Alien Children

Silvana Arista joined the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. as a Project Attorney in March, 2011.  She previously worked at Morrison Child and Family Services in Portland, Oregon, where she managed the cases of detained unaccompanied children and assisted them with family reunification.  During her free time she volunteered at Catholic Charities where she helped immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with VAWA and U visa cases.  

In 2002, Ms. Arista earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies at the University of Oregon.  She spent a year living and traveling in Costa Rica and Panama.  There, she worked as a reporter focusing on Central American politics for the journal Mesoamerica.  While in San Jose she taught English to business executives and volunteered at a women’s shelter.  After that experience, Ms. Arista returned to Oregon where she attended Lewis and Clark Law School.  While there, she was awarded a public interest law project grant to work at the Office of the Public Defender in Alexandria, Virginia.  Ms. Arista is originally from Lima, Peru, and speaks Spanish fluently.

Laura Burdick, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Burdick holds a Master’s Degree in social work administration, policy, and planning from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.A. from Smith College. She provides training and technical assistance to CLINIC affiliates on program management and capacity building. She also manages CLINIC’s citizenship assistance projects and its National Asylee Information and Referral Line. In this capacity, she provides training, technical assistance, and advocacy on asylee integration and on naturalization for people who are elderly, disabled, low income, or limited English proficient.  Since coming to CLINIC in 1997, she has managed various projects, including a national immigrant organizing project in 15 cities; a national, federally-funded project for outreach and naturalization assistance to refugees in ten cities; two statewide projects for naturalization assistance and asylee outreach in Florida; and a national project for technical assistance training and information to over 130 agencies serving elderly refugees in 27 states. Prior to CLINIC, she worked for refugee resettlement agencies in Texas and Virginia.

Rommel Calderwood, Project Coordinator, New Americans Collaboration

Mr. Calderwood is the Project Coordinator for the New Americans Collaboration, which strives to increase the number of legal permanent residents nationwide who apply for and obtain U.S. Citizenship through naturalization.  Mr. Calderwood first joined CLINIC in 2010 as the legal assistant with the National Pro Bono Project for Children where he focused on referrals for unaccompanied minors and matching them with pro bono attorneys.  Prior to CLINIC, he worked for the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement where he researched federal resettlement programs pertaining to the Somali Bantu and Amerasians, and drafted federal policies concerning the safe repatriation of American citizens living abroad.  In Chicago, Mr. Calderwood assisted with the family reunification process of unaccompanied minors at the International Children’s Center and interned with the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Adult Detention Project.  He has experience teaching English as a Second Language to newly arrived immigrants at the Newcomer Community Service Center in Washington’s Dupont Circle and to high school students in rural Vietnam.  Mr. Calderwood is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a concentration in political science, constitutional law, and international relations, and was a public policy fellow at Princeton University where he researched policy reforms concerning juveniles in detention centers.

Jack Holmgren, Field Support Coordinator

Mr. Holmgren is a graduate of the Monterey College of Law and has practiced immigration law exclusively since 1987. He has run a direct service program, supervised CLINIC’s national training and technical support staff and worked to help start and expand Catholic immigration legal services programs. He teaches, writes and consults on program management, Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognition and accreditation and other aspects of immigration law and practice. In addition to his work with CLINIC affiliates, Mr. Holmgren has assisted other faith-based and ethnic groups, such as the Muslims, Arabs and South Asian organizations to launch and grow local immigration law programs. Mr. Holmgren also assists programs in the Domestic Violence Survivor network. He works out of the CLINIC San Francisco, California office and is a member of the California State Bar.

Michelle Sardone, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Sardone holds a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from American University and a B.A. from the University of Delaware.  She provides training and technical assistance to CLINIC affiliates on program management and capacity building.  Previously, Ms. Sardone was the Legal Services Group Manager at Hogar Immigrant Services of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Arlington, VA.  She is a Fully-Accredited Representative who managed a program made up of both attorneys and BIA Accredited Representatives.  That program served clients with cases ranging from relative petitions to removal defense as well as providing group processing naturalization workshops.

Leya Speasmaker, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Speasmaker works as an Field Support Coordinator for CLINIC. In this position, she helps grow the capacity of the national network of charitable immigration service providers by providing training and consultation to organizations on program management and capacity building. She also offers training and technical assistance on English as a Second Language and citizenship preparation program development. Ms. Speasmaker is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she earned a B.A. in English and a Master of Teaching degree. She is also a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Master of Public Affairs and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies. While at UT-Austin, she designed and co-taught a class on Immigration Policy, worked with various leading experts in Immigration Policy, helped create a national database for language access policies, and published original work on employer sanctions. Prior to working at CLINIC, she taught English as a Second language in Virginia, Ecuador, and Texas, and she speaks Spanish.

Allison Posner, Director

Ms Posner is the Director of CLINIC’s advocacy section. In that position, she acts as a liaison between CLINIC’s members and various federal agencies that touch on immigration issues. She also represents CLINIC in issue-based coalitions and working groups and provides legal expertise and the view from the field to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Prior to joining CLINIC in 2004, Ms. Posner worked in private practice. Ms. Posner sits on the Social Policy Committee of Catholic Charities USA. She is a member of the New York State Bar and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Ms. Posner is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and American University Washington College of Law.

Lauren Graham Sullivan, Advocacy Attorney

Lauren Sullivan is the coordinator for the BIA Pro Bono Project.  She joined CLINIC in 2010 as the project attorney for the National Pro Bono Project where she conducted comprehensive legal screenings of children in removal proceedings. Lauren’s most recent experience prior to CLINIC was at South Coastal Counties Legal Services where she started their immigration legal services program for Cape Cod and the Islands. Lauren handled U Visa, VAWA and family reunification cases both affirmatively and defensively. Born in Washington, DC, Lauren earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Foreign Languages at James Madison University. In 2003, Lauren served as an immigration consultant through the Jesuit Volunteer Corp at the Catholic Charities in San Antonio, Texas. She is a graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island where she was a Feinstein Public Interest Fellow. Lauren is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.

Jennifer Riddle, Advocacy Attorney

Jennifer is the State & Local Advocacy Attorney in CLINIC’s Center for Immigrant Rights. In that role, she provides legal analysis and other advocacy support regarding immigration-related state bills, local ordinances and federal/state enforcement partnerships across the country. Prior to joining CLINIC in 2013, Jennifer advocated for the protection of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, D.C. She represented immigrants in private practice for five years in San Francisco and led legislative advocacy efforts for immigration reform as volunteer Advocacy Liaison for her local chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Jennifer is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and is a member of the D.C. and California Bars. Prior to law school, she worked on refugee resettlement projects as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.  

Charles Wheeler, Director

Mr. Wheeler is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, and has practiced and taught immigration law for two decades. Mr. Wheeler oversees CLINIC’s National Legal Center for Immigrants. He manages support and advocacy work on immigration law and related issues affecting immigrants. Mr. Wheeler directed the National Immigration Law Center for more than ten years. He has served on boards of the National Immigration Forum, American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and other leading organizations. He is a member of the State Bars of California, Colorado and Maryland.

Sarah Bronstein, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Bronstein provides training and technical assistance on immigration law to CLINIC members and other community based organizations. Prior to joining CLINIC’s Training and Legal Support section, Ms. Bronstein served as a detention fellow in CLINIC’s Los Angeles office from 2000 – 2002 representing detained adults and children in removal proceedings. She subsequently ran CLINIC’s San Francisco detained children’s representation project from 2002 – 2004 and supervised the legal work of the attorneys in CLINIC’s national detention representation project from 2004 – 2007. Ms. Bronstein is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and is member of the California State Bar.

Tatyana Delgado, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Delgado is a staff attorney in the Training and Legal Support Section focusing on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).  She provides training and legal support to CLINIC affiliates nationwide.   Ms. Delgado earned a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park.  Prior to working at CLINIC, Ms. Delgado served as a Georgetown Attorney Fellow and Supervising Attorney for the Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.   At the Cabrini Center, she represented detained unaccompanied minors, mentored pro bono attorneys handling asylum cases, and supervised the Asylee, Refugee, and Citizenship programs.  She speaks Spanish and French, and is a member of the New York and Maryland bars. 

Jennie Guilfoyle, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Guilfoyle is a staff attorney in CLINIC’s Washington, DC office, where she provides training and technical support on immigration law and procedure to member agencies and other organizations and practitioners across the country. Prior to joining CLINIC, Ms. Guilfoyle provided training and technical support to Church World Service’s nationwide network of refugee resettlement and immigration legal service providers for four years. Before that, she worked as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the New York Association for New Americans, where she represented asylum and VAWA applicants. She has a JD from New York University School of Law and an AB from Harvard College, and is a member of the New York bar.

Kristina Karpinski, Training & Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Karpinski is a graduate of Washington School of Law of The American University. She currently provides direct immigration legal services to low-income clients in the Boston area and trainings in immigration law to CLINIC’s member agencies including Catholic Charities of Boston and other community-based organizations. Since 1999, Ms. Karpinski has expanded her role as a local and national trainer. In 2004, she gave 15 trainings in 9 sites on topics such as citizenship and naturalization and immigration program management. Previously, she worked as an associate with Wildes and Weinberg and as a staff attorney with the Catholic Migration Office of Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of the New York State and Connecticut State Bars.

Susan Schreiber, Managing Attorney

Ms. Schreiber is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and has been practicing immigration law in the non-profit sector for over twenty-five years. As a CLINIC attorney, Ms. Schreiber provides technical assistance and training to member agencies and other organizations and practitioners across the country. After law school, Ms. Schreiber worked at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago for eight years, and then became managing attorney at the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center from 1988 to 1998. Before joining CLINIC in 2001, Ms. Schreiber worked at the DePaul Law School Legal Clinic as a supervisor of law students representing asylum applicants and providing technical assistance to community-based organizations. Ms. Schreiber is a member of the Illinois State Bar.

Debbie Smith, Training and Legal Support Attorney

Ms. Smith is an attorney specializing in immigration law who has practiced for more than twenty years in the non-profit, private and public sector. She is an attorney at CLINIC’S San Francisco office and most recently worked on CLINIC’s collaborative project, the Immigration Advocates Network. Ms Smith previously was an appellate staff attorney at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, a partner at Simmons & Ungar, and the national coordinator of the landmark American Baptist Churches ("ABC") class action settlement representing more than 300,000 class members. Ms. Smith has been honored for her work by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (Jack Wasserman Excellence in Litigation Award), the National Lawyers Guild (Carol King Award for Outstanding Contribution to Immigration Law), and the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (Silver Jubilee Advocate’s Award)

Dinah Suncin, Administrative Officer

Ms. Suncín was a fully-accredited BIA representative and trainer with the USCC/MRS Immigration Program from 1977 and assisted many clients throughout the Legalization Program. She has been with CLINIC since its inception and assists in developing the schedules for in-person trainings and webinars, serves as a public contact for training information and helps produce the monthly newsletter, Catholic Legal Immigration News. She also serves as co-chair for CLINIC’s annual convening. Ms. Suncín is fully bilingual in English-Spanish and holds a State of California certification as interpreter for the California State Court and Administrative Hearings. She volunteers her time with international medical missions, serving as medical interpreter.

Miguel Naranjo, Director of the Center for Religious Immigration and Protection

Mr. Naranjo has been practicing immigration law for over seven years, and has been with CLINIC since 2006.  He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the University of Notre Dame.  He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland.

Angelia Amaya, Legal Assistant

Ms. Amaya brought more than 20 years of management and marketing experience with her to CLINIC.  She has worked for companies like Inova Fairfax Hospital, Jones Lang LaSalle, Universal Outdoor, Inc., and the former Woodward & Lothrop retail group.  She holds an Associates of Arts in Business Management, Marketing and Merchandising, and is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Maryland University College.  Ms. Amaya is fluent in Spanish, teaching both the language and the culture to preschoolers in her spare time.

Nicole Bonjean , Attorney

Nicole Bonjean has a Bachelor of Art in History from George Mason University.  She graduated from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of law in 2012.  During law school, Ms. Bonjean interned at CLINIC with the Center for Religious Immigration and Protection.  She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.  Ms. Bonjean joined CLINIC as an Attorney for the Center for Religious Immigration and Protection in March 2013. 

Rita Dhakal, Legal Assistant

Ms. Dhakal has a Paralegal Certificate from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. She worked with Greenberg Traurig in Fairfax, VA and with the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna where she provided administrative and legal support to immigration attorneys including preparing non immigrant and immigrant visas petitions for clients.
She volunteers in Legal Services of Northern Virginia where she helps to conduct interview in Uncontested Divorce clinic, interview clients for case intake and placement. Responsible for review of case and prepare narrative for attorney for placement. From 1994 to 2004 she worked as an Information Officer for nonprofits like Save the Children (UK), OXFAM, DANIDA, and SNV in Nepal. She has also worked for refugee settlement and community-based organizations. In 2007-2008 she worked for Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington DC as a Part time Consulting Translator where she translated and reviewed material – materials in English and Nepali- intended for use in refugee cultural orientation.

Nancy Marwin, Attorney

Ms. Marwin is a graduate of the Washington College of Law at American University, where she focused on international and immigration law. She graduated cum laude in 2003. After law school she served as a judicial law clerk at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) through the Attorney General's Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was a staff attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLp and with Howrey LLP and an associate at David Ware and Associates prior to joining CLINIC. Before entering law as a second career, Ms. Marwin taught English as a Second Language and Cross-Cultural Communication to international students at the university level, including Fulbright Lectureships in the former Yugoslavia and in Poland. She has taught at the University of California, the University of Oregon, American University and Georgetown University.

Minyoung Ohm, Attorney

Ms. Ohm is a 2003 graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law. Prior to joining CLINIC, she was an associate attorney at Carliner & Remes and practiced immigration law in a variety of areas, including asylum, family-based visa petitions, and business immigration matters. In law school, she interned at Tahirih Justice Center assisting domestic violence victims gain legal residency in the United States and served as a student advocate with the American University's Domestic Violence Clinic. She has a B.A. in English and French from Wellesley College and is a member of the New York State Bar.

Inda Setiabudi, RIS Legal Assistant

Ms. Setiabudi has been as an immigration and naturalization paralegal for over 11 years.   Prior to joining CLINIC she was a paralegal for various law firms, non-profit organization and private immigration law offices in Washington DC Metropolitan area.  She is a Board of Immigration Appeal Accredited Paralegal.  She speaks five languages; serve as an interpreter for the Immigration Courts, other courts and hospitals for Indonesian language and some Chinese dialects.

Megan S. Turngren, RIS Attorney

Ms. Turngren graduated from the University of Memphis’ Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2005.  Following law school, she worked as an Associate with the immigration law firms of Siskind Susser in Memphis, and later David S. Jones & Associates in Las Vegas.  In 2008, Ms. Turngren chose to leave private practice in order to work directly with indigent clients as an Assistant District Public Defender in Johnson City, Tennessee.  During this time, she remained devoted to the cause of immigrants by working to educate the criminal defense bar regarding the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.  Ms. Turngren has a Bachelor of Science from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and is a member of the Tennessee State Bar.