Staff
Frishta Sadat (she/her)
Part-time Legal Assistant
Frishta Sadat started working at MIRC in July 2022. She is a legal Assistant on the Afghan Arrivals team in Kalamazoo. Originally from Kabul, Afghanistan and studied Law and political science in Afghanistan for two and half years. She is studying Criminal Justice at KVCC currently . She enjoys watching movies and walking in her free time. Frishta is fluent in Dari.
Garance Perret (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Garance is a Legal Assistant on the UC team at our Ypsilanti office. Before joining MIRC, Garance worked with various nonprofits, political campaigns, and charitable organizations to advocate for the causes that she is passionate about, such as environmental justice, progressive legislation, and immigrant rights. In 2021, she graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Communications. She is a Native French speaker and is also proficient in Spanish. As an immigrant herself, Garance is committed to using her privilege to ensure that all immigrants are given the same opportunities she was when first arriving in the U.S. as a child.
Gladys Gonzalez (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Gladys is a legal assistant for the Unaccompanied Minors Team in Ypsilanti. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with an Honors degree in History. She specializes in early 20th-Century American history with a focus on the Constitution, the impact of nationalism, and social justice. She also enjoys art and music. Gladys was born in South Haven, MI to immigrant parents and has since developed a strong sense of justice and protectiveness toward the immigrant community. Her goal is to become an attorney and continue to assist the community through public policy, litigation, and overall human compassion. Gladys is fluent in Spanish.
Gonzalo Peralta (he/him)
Staff Attorney
Gonzalo Peralta joined the Michigan Immigrants Rights Center on February of 2020. Prior to starting at MIRC, he was an associate attorney for Audrey Allen Immigration Law, LLc practicing immigration law for eight years where he focused and specialized in removal defense. Gonzalo is a Penn State University and Rutgers Law School graduate. Originally from Argentina, Gonzalo is fluent in Spanish. He will be based in the Grand Rapids office focusing on workers’ rights.
Grace Erway (she/her)
Paralegal
Grace Erway is a Paralegal on the Afghan Arrivals Team in Kalamazoo. Originally from Kalamazoo, she recently graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology/Sociology from Kalamazoo College and is a proud beneficiary of the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship. In her time at Kalamazoo College she was able to study abroad in Costa Rica and write a research based undergrad thesis, on the history of white supremacy and its presence in migrant related law. In her free time she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, singing and bartending.
Hannah Lehker (she/her)
Program Administrator
Hannah Lehker (she/her) works in the Kalamazoo office as MIRC's Program Administrator, and is a queer, fat, white femme. Hannah started at MIRC as an intern working with migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, before becoming a Legal Assistant for the Unaccompanied Children's Program. These varied roles provided Hannah with insight into many aspects of work at MIRC, preparing her for her current position as a program-wide administrator. Hannah graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2017, with a degree in Spanish and Anthropology/Sociology. She spent six months studying in Valparaíso, Chile, and speaks Spanish. Outside of work hours you are most likely to find Hannah at the beach.
Inés Llorente (she/her)
Supervising Program Coordinator
Inés joined MIRC in 2021 as a Program Coordinator within the Unaccompanied Children Team in Ypsilanti. Inés grew up in Spain, then studied and worked in France and England, and eventually moved to the United States. She holds a degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid and a specialization in International Relations from Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs. Inés has been involved in human rights work since 2013. In her previous job, Inés supported grassroots organizations working on forced displacement and migration issues in Cambridge, MA. Since her arrival in Michigan in 2018, Inés has been involved in immigrants’ rights advocacy through local organizations, and in 2020, she graduated with a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. Inés serves on the advisory board of the Michigan Poverty Law Program (MPLP) as the immigrant rights representative. Inés is committed to bringing positive change through policy advocacy and research at the intersection of human rights, migration, and development. Inés is fluent in Spanish and French.
Izamar Ortiz (she/her)
Community Referrals Assistant
Izamar is a part of MIRC’s unaccompanied minors team as a Community Referrals legal assistant. She graduated from Hope College in 2015 and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Clinical Counseling at Aquinas College. She has a deep passion for advocating for families and listening to their needs and concerns. In her free time, she loves meeting new people and learning new languages.
Jack Larson (he/him)
UC Supervising Program Coordinator
Jack is a Supervising Program Coordinator for our Unaccompanied Children's Program based in our Grand Rapids Office. He started with MIRC as an intern in January 2019 while in his undergraduate program at Western Michigan University, where he received his bachelor's degree in Spanish, with minors in Criminal Justice and Communications. Since then he has worked and volunteered in various capacities before settling into his current role in April 2020. Jack is fluent in Spanish.
Jaimie Lerner (she/her)
Staff Attorney
Jaimie Lerner is a Staff Attorney with Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Before joining MIRC, she served for two years as an Attorney Advisor at the Detroit Immigration Court and two years as a Judicial Law Clerk for the New York Immigration Court, part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Cardozo) and her B.A. from the University of Michigan. During law school, Jaimie served as legal intern with the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington D.C., as well as a student clinician with the Immigration Justice Clinic and Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic for Cardozo in New York. As a law student, she was an Assistant Coach and prior competitor for the Cardozo Moot Court Team at the University of Oxford Media Law Competition in Oxford, England, examining international law and freedom of expression concerns.
Jennifer Vanegas (she/her)
Supervising Attorney
Jennifer Vanegas joined the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in April 2019. Previously, she was a workers' rights attorney at Farmworker Legal Services. During law school, she served as a student attorney with the Washtenaw County Office of Public Defender, WMU-Cooley Innocence Project, and St Vincent Catholic Charities Immigration Law Clinic. Jennifer is a fluent Spanish speaker and graduated from Western Michigan University with a BA in Spanish and minor in Social Work and received her JD from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. She is based in MIRC's Grand Rapids office and works with unaccompanied children who are in removal proceedings.
Jo Pohl (they/them, she/her)
Staff Attorney
Jo Pohl is a staff attorney in MIRC’s Unaccompanied Children program, where they focus on representing children in long term foster care. Jo graduated from Michigan State College of Law in 2021. While attending law school Jo held several internship positions at Justice for Our Neighbors, the University of Michigan Human Trafficking Clinic, the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, and Legal Services of South Central Michigan. Additionally, Jo participated in various student organizations which represent interests they are passionate about, including the Lori E. Talsky Center for Human Rights of Women and Children and the Triangle Bar Association. Before their decision to pursue a legal career, Jo worked as a Refugee Resettlement Caseworker at Samaritas.
Joan Smith (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Joan Smith is the Legal Assistant to the Immigration Court Helpdesk program. She is based out of the Ypsilanti office, but primarily works at Immigration Court. Prior to MIRC, Joan taught ELL and GED classes to adults in Southwest Detroit. She also spent a year living and working at a migrant shelter in Guatemala, near the Mexican border. She loves language and language learning, and is near fluent in Spanish. She graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with Bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and French, and has a Master’s degree in Communication from Oakland University. She is committed to dismantling our violent immigration system.
Juliana Hafner (she/her)
Supervising Program Coordinator
Juliana Hafner is a Supervising Program Coordinator on the UC Team in Kalamazoo. Originally from Colombia, she has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from La Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá. Juliana has worked in the non-profit sector since 2016, first supporting the implementation of The Restorative Justice Approach in a juvenile detention facility in Colombia, later on providing preventional information about sexual abuse to preschools in low-income areas of Bogotá. Before her current role as a Legal Assistant, Juliana was the Director of Family and Youth Programs at El Concilio Kalamazoo.
Katie White (she/her)
Law Graduate
Katherine White joined Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in May of 2021. Previously, Katherine founded Immigrant Connection at City Life Church, a low-cost immigration law office, serving as the Executive Director and a Department of Justice Representative. She received her Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School and holds a B.A. in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Human Rights from Grand Valley State University. She is based in MIRC's Grand Rapids office and is fluent in Spanish.
Kelsey Kanthack (she/her)
Staff Attorney
Kelsey is a Staff Attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Right Center’s Kalamazoo office. She is originally from Chicago and moved to Michigan in 2013. Kelsey started with MIRC as an intern while completing her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and psychology at Western Michigan University. In 2020, she received her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law.
Lauren LaLonde (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Lauren joined MIRC in January of 2022, and is a Legal Assistant for the Unaccompanied Children’s Team in Kalamazoo, MI. She recently graduated from Western Michigan University with a double major in Spanish and Political Science. She first worked at MIRC as an intern in 2018, before studying abroad for the following year in Cuba and New Zealand. Lauren is passionate about immigrant rights, and working to support immigrants in her community. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and skydiving. She is proficient in Spanish.
Leila Asadi (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Leila Asadi has an international law major, educated in Iran and the United States. She has done research and activism on Afghan refugee women and children in areas of education, physical and mental health and life skills in Iran. In the United States she has Syrian refugee women and their experience of the US asylum seeking process. Leila Asadi is interested on refugee rights advocacy and social and feminist movements in Iran and the US.
Lexi Andre (she/her)
Staff Attorney
Lexi Andre joined MIRC’s Unaccompanied Children’s Program as a Staff Attorney in May 2021. She received her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School where she served as a student attorney with the Human Trafficking Clinic and the Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic. She also interned for the Law Reform and Development Commission of Namibia, International Service for Human Rights, and the Family Law Project. Lexi also attended University of Michigan for her undergraduate degree in Classical Languages and Literatures with a minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
Lisset Najera (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Lisset is a legal assistant for our Unaccompanied Children’s Program in the Ypsilanti Office. Originally from Mexico City, Mexico, she is a compassionate youth’s advocate and parent educator with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Lisset has facilitated individual and group workshops to educate caregivers on child development and cultivating positive, respectful and intentional parent-child relationships. As part of her role, she is committed to promote culturally-sensitive trauma-informed practices and its application for the care of immigrant and refugee youth and their families.
Lizzette Ruiz (she/her)
Supervising Program Coordinator
Lizzette joined the Michigan Immigrants Rights Center in January 2020 as a bilingual legal assistant working specifically with unaccompanied children in Long Term Foster Care, and is now a Supervising Program Coordinator on the same team. Lizzette is a California native, born and raised in Los Angeles, who’s parents immigrated from Mexico and El Salvador. She is dedicated to advocating for immigrant rights, and mental health. Lizzette worked many years providing interpretation services for the Latinx community in Michigan courts and it’s partnering agencies like the Children’s Assessment Center. She is state certified as a Judicial Interpreter for the Spanish language and recently became certified in Mental Health First Aid.
Magid Shaibi (he/him)
Law Graduate
Magid Shaibi is a Law Graduate with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center’s Unaccompanied Children’s team in Ypsilanti. Magid studied Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and earned his law degree from The University of Toledo College of Law.
Maria Garcia (she/her)
Intake Coordinator
Maria Garcia is an Intake Coordinator with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center as part of the Washtenaw, Intake, Kalamazoo, Detroit Front Door (WIKD) team. She was born and raised in Southwest Detroit. Maria recently received her B.A. from the University of Michigan, where she studied Political Science and Latina/o Studies, as well as double minoring in Asian Studies and Gender, Race, & Nation. Maria has a passion for immigrant rights and social justice issues and her goal is to one day become an immigration attorney.
Mariana Santos (she/her)
Legal Assistant
Mariana Santos is a legal assistant for the Unaccompanied Children Team in Grand Rapids. She recently graduated from Aquinas College with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a minor in legal studies. Mariana was born in the Grand Rapids, but was brought up in the Wyoming area. Mariana has always had a passion for immigrant rights and social justice issues. She has been dedicated to helping out the community by interning at Immigrant Connection at City Life Church in GR and served as a Diversity Assistant during her time at Aquinas. Her goal is to eventually become an immigration attorney herself.