Maria joined Nationalities Service Center in January 2024 as a staff attorney working with the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project (PAIFUP). At NSC, she provides pro bono representation to individuals in removal and bond proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Maria’s role is split with the Defender Association of Philadelphia, where she also serves as an immigration specialist to advise criminal attorneys and clients about the immigration consequences of criminal charges and assist in negotiating immigration-safe outcomes.
Prior to joining NSC, Maria was an Oregon Worker Relief Fellow at Innovation Law Lab where she represented asylum seekers in removal proceedings through Oregon's universal representation program. Before law school, she was a DOJ Accredited Representative at Esperanza Immigration Legal Services and worked as a domestic violence counselor at the Hispanic Family Center in Camden, NJ.
Maria graduated from the Temple University Beasley School of Law and Temple University School of Social Work with a joint JD/MSW degree in 2022. She got her start in immigration advocacy in 2012 as a long-term volunteer at Annunciation House, a migrant shelter in El Paso, TX, and she continues to serve the organization as a member of the Board of Directors. She is fluent in Spanish. In her free time, she can be found biking up gnarly hills throughout Philadelphia.