Levita Rohlman has worked for refugee and immigration services for over 40 years. With her extensive knowledge and experience, Levita gained the respect from the community. It is an honor to have her on our team.

Amy Gonzales is the administrative assistant to our program and she is the person that keeps us going. She helps volunteers get started, participates in citizenship workshops, and provides support to our team so we can best serve our clients. She helps us collect data for reports and close cases that have been approved. She is dedicated to working with immigrant communities and we cannot do the work we do without her.

Manuel has served as a DOJ-Accredited Catholic Charities immigration representative for individuals seeking family-based petitions and other naturalization tools for 30 years. Manuel skillfully draws from his training and, when necessary, solicits trustworthy legal advice from legal partnerships he has forged for decades to ensure participants are successful. Their children and even grandchildren blossom into U.S. citizens, doctors, teachers, politicians and more. When our staff visits Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, and other counties, Manuel Rivera's name always comes up with joy and reverence.

Lan Truong has dedicated the past 30 years, serving immigrants and refugees in New Hampshire with great compassion. As a refugee herself, from Vietnam, Lan has been welcoming newcomers to New Hampshire with great care and empathy. Lan started her employment at Catholic Charities New Hampshire, or CCNH, in 1992, working in Diocesan Multi-Cultural Ministries. In this position, she assisted host parishes in welcoming, evangelizing and providing culturally appropriate pastoral services to Vietnamese immigrants and refugees. Next, in 1998, Lan became the refugee resettlement coordinator, a position that she held until 2005, when we closed our Refugee Resettlement Office. In 2001, she became a Department of Justice partial accredited representative, which Lan continues to be up to present time. Lan's expertise and focus of her legal casework is on all aspects of family-based immigration; citizenship and naturalization; refugee adjustment of status; and other immigration legal services for refugees.

Martha A. Alejandre was born in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles. Martha has worked in the immigration legal services field since 1997, in both the non-profit and private sectors. Martha became an accredited representative through the Department of Justice in 2015 and has been an immigration caseworker with Catholic Charities of Idaho since 2012. Martha’s legal expertise includes family based petitions, DACA, the naturalization process and working with immigrant victims of violence. Martha is an active member and volunteer at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Nampa, Idaho. Martha strives to be that someone for immigrants in her community; helping them know their options and rights. Martha appreciates her family, faith and the community in which she lives, and dedicates her talents to strengthening the lives of the newcomer populations in Idaho. We celebrate and appreciate her service!

Consuelo Kwee joined Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, in February 1997 as the director of Centro para Familias Hispanas, one of the Catholic Charities' Hispanic Family Centers. Ms. Kwee helped grow the program from a half-time position to three full-time staff and five volunteers that served the Hispanic community in the area. In September 2014, Ms. Kwee assumed the position of Director of Immigration Legal Services for the agency. She currently oversees a staff of seven, including five DOJ accredited representatives that provide services across the 54 counties in eastern North Carolina. She and her staff provide immigration services including: family-based petitions, citizenship and naturalization, consular processing, DACAs, TPS, and humanitarian visas. Ms. Kwee and her team have served over 700 individuals from 59 different countries with their immigration needs. Consuelo is a valued member of my executive staff and the services she provides to our clients and community partners is immeasurable.

Linda has worked with low income immigrants on the island of Hawaii for many years. Her dedication to her work has seen her clients succeed in becoming contributing members of the community of Hawaii Island — they have become farmers providing for local food needs, small business owners providing services and products for this rural community, and more. Her compassion and expertise ensure that her low income immigrant clients never lose hope.

Guadalupe Rios has been a beacon of hope for immigrants seeking the services of Catholic Charities of Central Texas for two decades. Relatives and friends of former clients specifically request her representation due to the success in the cases of their loved ones, as well as the empathetic way she relates to her clients. Her happy demeanor and positive outlook rubs off on the rest of the team, and we could not imagine operating this program without her.

Hilary became a partially accredited representative by the Department of Justice in 2014 when the Berkshire Immigrant Center became a recognized organization by the Office of Legal Access Programs. Since then, Hilary became the Center's Director and hired and trained staff to help the hundreds of Berkshire immigrants receive legal assistance and free civics education. In 2017 Hilary handed over the title of Director to the Center's first full-time employee and became our first ever volunteer case worker, keeping up with her partial accreditation and serving immigrant clients.

For 15 years Sister Ellen Lamberjack has been striving to bring hope to immigrant working families through Project Hope-Proyecto Esperanza, which she founded in October 2006 in response to a need for legal immigration services for workers in northwest Ohio. The one-person organization has grown into a staff of six, serving immigrant families and meeting humanitarian needs by responding thus far to immigrants from 59 countries. Besides being a partially accredited legal representative, Sister Ellen generously spends her time and love for the immigrant people by serving as the director and overseeing the grant writing for Project Hope-Proyecto Esperanza.

Maria Mitchell has dedicated her legal career to serve immigrants and refugees at the St. Frances Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance for the past 15 years. Maria began her legal career representing unaccompanied children and identifying pro bono legal representation for the unaccompanied children. During her tenure, Maria has represented asylees and refugees and helped them achieve lawful permanent residency and naturalization. At present, Maria is a managing attorney and supervises the Legal Orientation Program for Custodians and the Safe Release Support program, and advocates for the reunification of families. For the past 15 years, Maria has been a zealous advocate for the rights of immigrants and refugees. She also provides outreach to the community on immigration law. Maria has put her Catholic faith into action with love and hope and is blessed to be able to answer the invitation in Matthew 25:35, dedicating her legal career to welcoming the stranger.

Fahreta is an amazing person who loves helping our clients from all around the world. She puts her heart in every step of our clients' process.

Jeanne is the longest-serving immigration counselor at CMS. Throughout her time at CMS, she has helped reunite countless families. Jeanne is a compassionate and committed advocate for all of her clients. She has been invaluable in our work with and outreach to the Haitian community in New York.

Deepa works primarily with VAWA and U visa clients. She has handled some of our most difficult cases, from non pro tuncs to humanitarian visas for people in desperate need. Her passion for social work and supporting vulnerable clients has touched hundreds of lives and continues to do so every day.

Leslye is an accredited representative that works primarily in our Legal Orientation Program for Custodians. Leslye has made our LOPC program the most successful and cost efficient in the nation. She is a passionate advocate for unaccompanied children, finding resources and pro bono representation for many of them. Leslye also has travelled to the border to assist in respite centers for arriving asylum seekers and assisted unaccompanied children in Dallas to obtain services they needed.

Estefania is a Supervising Attorney at Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services in D.C. Estefania provides direct legal representation in a wide range of immigration matters, helping to make a difference in the lives of her clients! She also provides mentorship to pro bono attorneys and conducts legal trainings and community presentations. Estefania received her juris doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Before joining Catholic Charities, Estefania served as a staff attorney, and, later, the interim director for the legal department at CARECEN DC. During law school, Estefania 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. Due to her dedication to public service, Estefania was awarded the William Lecher Jr. Public Service Price and was recognized by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a 2014 Law Student for Justice. A native of Honduras, Estefania utilizes her skills, knowledge, and cultural background to help the immigrant community within the Washington region to reach their full potential. Estefania is a member of the D.C. and Tennessee bars.

Elvira Flores Tapia is an immigrant herself. She started working in Catholic Charities of Central Colorado as the receptionist/office assistant for Family Immigration Services. Recognizing her talent, the office supported her in the process of becoming an accredited representative, a goal she achieved on Dec. 14, 2016. Since then, Elvira has helped scores of low income clients file their DACA work permits, AOS, removal of conditions, naturalizations, FOIAs, provisional waivers, green card renewals, VAWAs, and U nonimmigrant status applications.

Julie is a member of Centro Legal's Pro Bono Team, supervising pro bono clinics and representing families and unaccompanied children seeking asylum and other forms of relief from deportation before the immigration court and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Prior to coming to Centro Legal, Julie was a supervising attorney at the Immigration Center for Women and Children, representing immigrant victims of crime in affirmative petitions. Julie graduated from NYU School of Law and became a staff attorney, then supervising attorney at the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, with the goal of keeping families together and protecting clients' fundamental rights. In that capacity, she acted as assigned counsel to indigent parents at risk of losing their children to foster care in Brooklyn, New York, family court. Julie moved to California, and following the presidential election, she was compelled to focus her legal practice on advocating for immigrants. Julie is proud to represent and work alongside immigrants as part of Centro Legal's immigration practice.

Eva Loney, immigration staff attorney, joined Centro Legal in September 2019. She provides direct representation for individuals in removal proceedings — primarily unaccompanied children and adult asylum-seekers. She received her juris doctor from UC Davis School of Law, where she was awarded the Immigration Law Certificate for completion of relevant courses and clinical work in immigration law. During law school she represented individuals in asylum, SIJS and cancellation of removal cases as part of the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic. She served as a summer law clerk at Considine Sorensen & Trujillo P.C. on removal defense and family-based immigration matters. She also served as a law clerk at California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, working primarily with asylum seekers in removal proceedings. She received her bachelor's degree from UC Davis in international relations and Spanish.

Luisa Martin-Price has been with Catholic Charities since January 2017 and currently serves as fully accredited DOJ representative. She has volunteered for CpFH on and off since 2000. She currently serves as the chair of the Justice for Immigrants Ministry for Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina. Luisa has a bachelor's degree in education in mathematics and physics from the Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, and is certified to teach in North Carolina schools. She became a U.S. Citizen in 2008, is fluent in Spanish and English, and has dedicated herself to helping immigrants. Her favorite hobby is playing bridge and going hiking with her husband and dog. She is a proud mother of two adult children.

As a Sr. Paralegal on the Abolishing Immigration Detention team, Stephanie is fighting for abolition through representation, education and advocacy. Stephanie works with detained and incarcerated folks who are fighting for freedom before the immigration courts. Prior to joining Centro Legal, Stephanie worked as a litigation legal assistant for a law firm in the Bay Area. Passionate about immigrants’ rights, Stephanie co-founded Collective Action for Laborers Migrants & Asylum Seekers, or CALMA, in 2020, a grassroots organization that provides support and aid to migrants in the Bay Area. Under CALMA, she co-directed the Day Laborer Outreach Program, which provided hot meals, KYR training, hygiene essentials and clothing.

As Centro’s immigration senior Know Your Rights coordinator, Ana’s passion for helping people shines while serving clients through Know Your Rights presentations, attending tabling events and participating in other outreach programs. Prior to becoming a part of Centro Legal's immigration team, Ana worked at the Immigration Center for Women and Children in Oakland, California. There, she supported the Center through answering incoming client’s questions and helping to ground them in their rights.

Luz has been an accredited representative for three years. She began as the program assistant for our west Dallas office and since, she has grown to be a case manager and advocate. Luz has wonderful customer service: She likes working with clients with complex cases and tries to guide them as painlessly as possible through the complex immigration system. She now also assists as a citizenship instructor in addition to her work as case manager.

Lourdes started in March 2017 as a program assistant and became the supervisor for the program assistants in 2019. She was an assistant for two and a half years. She was then promoted to a case manager for low-income individuals in 2019 and got partial accreditation in 2020. Lourdes has been the citizenship coordinator for NAC since July 2020.

Carmen Velazquez came to Catholic Charities of Wichita 5 years ago with very minimal knowledge of immigration processes. In the past five years, she has demonstrated a dedication and love for the work we do. She is now an accredited representative with hundreds of satisfied clients. She is well-known in the community and loved dearly by many. She dedicates her entire work life to the betterment and well-being of the clients seeking her help through our immigration services. I am proud to be her supervisor, as she has enhanced the activities of our small group in many ways. Thank you Carmen for all you do for our program and the immigrants in this community.

Mara first worked with immigrants and refugees through resettlement and hospitality at Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City. After returning to the United States in 2014 she began her work in immigration legal services with the National Immigrant Justice Center in Goshen, Indiana. While at NIJC, she became partially accredited and much of her work focused on asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors and survivors of domestic violence. After taking a few years off to attend seminary, Mara rejoined the world of immigration law in 2020 with Project Hope-Proyecto Esperanza in Archbold, Ohio, where she was reaccredited and has focused her work on representing clients seeking humanitarian forms of immigration relief. In 2021, Mara received full accreditation from the Department of Justice.

Caitlin began work at CMS working on naturalization cases. She has since become an accredited representative and expanded her work to included a wide range of immigration matters. She is a very dedicated member of the team and is always willing to volunteer for special projects.