Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Maria Odom, Executive Director

Maria Odom is an experienced and dedicated immigration attorney, having for many years represented a myriad of immigrants, from asylum seekers, detained individuals, religious workers, juveniles, victims of domestic violence, and corporations seeking to bring and keep talented and essential workers in the U.S.  She has worked tirelessly to keep immigrants and their families together as well as to reunify those who have suffered the consequences of deportation and stricter immigration laws.

Ms. Odom’s legal career began in the late 1990’s at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she initially served as an Honors Program Judicial Law Clerk and later as an Assistant District Counsel for the legacy U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.  After her government service, Ms. Odom established and developed a successful private practice with a focus on removal defense and immigration litigation.  She had the privilege of partnering with some of the most outstanding immigration practitioners in the Southeast, including serving as Partner at Antonini, Odom & Sullivan, LLC, a boutique law firm specializing in complex removal defense, and at Kuck Casablanca & Odom, LLC, a multi-state firm serving immigrants in Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte.  Most recently, Ms. Odom served as the Principal Attorney of the Odom Immigration Law Group in Atlanta, Georgia.

Throughout her tenure in private practice, Ms. Odom represented clients in proceedings before various U.S. Immigration Courts across the nation, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, as well as various Federal District and Appellate Courts. She also represented foreign nationals and their families before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of State. 

Ms. Odom holds a Juris Doctorate from Mercer University and a BS in Criminology from The Florida State University.  She has been a long-standing member and mentor of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a Faculty Member for continued legal education seminars in Georgia and nationwide. She was named Georgia’s 2008 Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and served as a board member of the Georgia Council for International Visitors.  As CLINIC’s Executive Director, Ms. Odom is a board member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Migration.  She also serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Catholic Schools Consortium.  Ms. Odom is a native of Puerto Rico and lives in Washington DC with her husband, Doug, and her two children, Thomas and Emilia.

Maura Collins, Special Assistant to the Executive Director

Ms. Collins 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.

Regina Williams, IT and Operations Officer

Ms Williams has been with CLINIC for almost twenty years.  She has held various positions within the organization.   Ms. Williams originally began managing the Cuban Haitian database and now serves as the IT and Operations Officer.    She oversees the organization’s hardware and software needs in addition to managing the office space. Ms. Williams has seen the organization grow over the years, providing more education and assistance in the immigration field.

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.

Wendy Rhein, Director

Ms. Rhein has worked in nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years, primarily in the areas of development, start up, organizational management and communications. As the Director for Advancement, Marketing and Communications, Ms. Rhein oversees all of CLINIC’s fund raising and communication efforts including grant writing, direct mail, individual giving, messaging, publications, and the website.   Prior to joining CLINIC, Ms. Rhein was a organizational development and fund raising consultant to small nonprofits.  She has previously served as the Executive Director of The Well Project; the Director of the Office of Service Learning for the Emory University School of Nursing.   Ms. Rhein coordinated multi-year, multi-million dollar campaigns for the United States Fund for UNICEF as the Director, Campaign Themes and New Initiatives and also served as the Special Assistant to the President of the same organization.  She is a published author and editor, having served as editor of eMONITORS, an online journal of news related to corporate social responsibility and business and human rights for seven years.  Ms. Rhein holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University focusing on Human Rights and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Women’s Studies and Communication from the University of Michigan.

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. 

H. Andres Abella, Grants Administrator

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, Project 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 manages CLINIC’s citizenship assistance projects and its asylee information and referral line. She also attends meetings with officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of CLINIC member agencies to advocate on issues such as citizenship for people with disabilities and fee waivers. 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.

Helen Chen, Field Support Coordinator

Ms. Chen is a graduate of City University of New York School of Law. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Boston University. She serves as VAWA attorney in the Center for Citizenship and Immigrant Communities and works on issues related to immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes. She provides training and technical assistance to CLINIC affiliates/members, domestic violence organizations and other social and legal services agencies on these issues. She also provides training and consultation to organizations on program management and capacity building. Previously, Ms. Chen was an immigration attorney with Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence and Catholic Charities of Boston. She spearheaded the VAWA project at both agencies and provided direct services to immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes.

Miriam Crespo, Project Attorney, Legal Orientation Program for Custodians (LOPC)

Ms. Crespo previously managed the EOIR funded Legal Orientation Program at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana and previously served as the Jesuit Volunteer Corp Detention Project Coordinator for CLINIC’s Gulf Coast Immigrant Project for in New Orleans. Most recently, she worked as the Managing Immigration Staff Attorney at Catholic Charities Diocese of Baton Rouge and as an associate for Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates in Chicago, Illinois.  Ms. Crespo has vast experience in detention and removal work and immigrant community outreach.  In addition, Ms. Crespo has provided introductory seminars on immigration law to law students at La Universidad de Rafael Landivar in Guatemala.  Her work has earned her many awards, including the Louisiana State Bar Association Student Pro Bono Award, the Gills Long Public Service Award, and the Outstanding Clinic Student Practitioner in the field of Immigration Law Award. Ms. Crespo is a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law and earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Orleans.  Ms. Crespo is fluent in Spanish.  Lastly, in the past year Ms. Crespo hosted a radio show called “Ruta Diferente” on Radio Amor 91.9 FM, where she provided information to the general public on immigration law and local social services in the area.  Ms. Crespo is a member of the Louisiana Bar.

Anita Drever, PhD, Project Evaluator, Legal Orientation Program for Custodians (LOPC)

Dr. Drever is an evaluator, immigration researcher, and statistical analyst.   Before coming to CLINIC, she was a tenured associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a visiting scholar at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW-Berlin), and an evaluator at the University of Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center.  Dr. Drever has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on immigration-related topics.  She has received research funding the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council, among others.  Dr. Drever has a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in Population Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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.

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 Executive Committee of the Detention Watch Network and 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.

Karen Sicliano Lucas, Advocacy Attorney

Karen 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.  Karen is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, a member of the New York state bar, and a doctoral candidate in History at the University of California, Berkeley.  Prior to joining CLINIC in June 2011, Karen testified before several Maryland Senate and House of Delegates committees on behalf of the Maryland Episcopal Public Policy Network, opposing legislative efforts to deny the rights and dignity of immigrants.  Karen trained as a litigator in the New York law firm Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP and gained experience on Capitol Hill by interning with the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C.

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.

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.

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.

Anne Marie Gibbons, Director

Ms. Gibbons has practiced immigration law since 1989 when she represented detained asylum seekers in South Texas, and recruited and trained law students and lawyers from around the country to represent detainees asking for asylum. She later entered private practice where she worked on general immigration issues, as well as child abuse and neglect cases. Since 1998, she has managed CLINIC projects dealing with antidiscrimination in the workplace, and legal representation of abused women under the Violence Against Women Act. Since 2000, she has worked for the Division of Religious Immigration Services, helping bring foreign-born priests, sisters, brothers and lay workers to work for the Church in the United States. She also participates in trainings, and writing training material. Ms. Gibbons is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

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.

Virginia 'Ginja' Bethel, Legal Assistant

Ms. Bethel comes to CLINIC with a wealth of organizational management skills gained from over 15 years working in the non-profit sector. While at the National Low Income Housing Information Services she was the Capacity Building Director, working with state and national coalitions, student and faith based organizations using empowerment organizing model with strong capacity building emphases on the issues of low income housing and state/federal legislation matters. She also coordinated the annual Lobby Day in Washington DC each year. She developed and implemented many training programs on Crime Prevention, Fair Housing, and How To work with local-state government bodies. At the Council on Social Work Education, she was the Information and Records Coordinator for the Accreditation Division. Her role was to provide hands-on help to over 690 Masters and Baccalaureate Schools of Social Work as they came through the accreditation process. She also coordinated all of the training sessions provided by the Accreditation Division. Ms. Bethel graduated from Beacon College with a BA in Organizational Development.

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.

Miguel Naranjo, Managing Attorney

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.

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.

Sairah Saeed, Senior Attorney

Ms. Saeed is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School and the University of Michigan (BA in Political Science, Women's Studies, and Afro American and African Studies). Prior to joining CLINIC, she was a Law Fellow with Alliance for Justice's Nonprofit Advocacy Project and Foundation Advocacy Initiative where she conducted workshops and engaged in research and writing projects regarding advocacy rules for nonprofit organizations. Prior to working with the Alliance for Justice, she worked as a Law Clerk with the United Auto Workers Legal Department; Ms. Ambereen Ahmed, a private practitioner; and Notre Dame's Immigration Clinic.  Since joining CLINIC in 2007 she has worked with the Religious Immigration Services Section providing direct legal representation to Roman Catholic Dioceses and religious communities and to foreign born priests, sisters, brothers, and lay workers to work for the Church in the United States.  While at CLINIC, she has also been actively involved in conducting trainings and writing training materials.  She also coordinates the Religious Immigration Section’s Internship Program.  She is a member of the Illinois bar.