Emma joined Santa Fe Dreamers Project in 2016 as a staff attorney, and has also served as Legal Director. She has worked on a wide range of immigration issues including humanitarian relief, family-based immigration, and political asylum for detained and non-detained individuals. Emma has volunteered extensively with projects such as the CARA Pro Bono Project, RAICES, Charleston Pro Bono Project and Annunciation House Legal Program, and locally as a member of the board of directors of El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos from 2017-2020, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association as an advocacy captain for the state of New Mexico. Emma has a BA and JD from the University of New Mexico. She is a 7th generation New Mexican who grew up outside of Los Lunas, New Mexico, and currently lives in Albuquerque with her husband Kevin and two sons, Michael and Samuel.

Maria is a Dreamer who grew up in Santa Fe and is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico. She graduated from Capital High School in 2014. Maria has been volunteering for Santa Fe Dreamers Project since 2016, and officially joined our staff as Office Manager in January 2018. She is now the Director of Operations. In her free time, Maria enjoys spending time with her husband Roberto and her two children.

Deshawnda joined Santa Fe Dreamers Project in July 2023. She is a first-generation daughter of an immigrant father. Deshawnda studied political science and Latin American studies at Florida Gulf Coast University (2014). During this time, she was a community organizer in southwest Florida where she helped campaign for tuition equity and driver’s licenses for Florida’s undocumented community while also organizing citizenship and DACA clinics. Deshawnda moved to New Mexico to attend the University of New Mexico School of Law (2017) and received the Ann C. Scales Jurisprudence Award for commitment to moving the law forward in the service of humanity as well as Clinical Honors. She is a former Equal Justice Works Fellow (2018-2020) during which she focused on providing immigration legal services to survivors of human trafficking. Her experience in immigration law is mostly focused on working with immigrant survivors of crime. Deshawnda returns to SFDP seven years after being a law school intern.

Based in Santa Fe, NM, Jessica joined the Santa Fe Dreamers Project staff in March 2021. She was born and raised in southern California and moved to New Mexico in late 1999. As a first-generation daughter of immigrants, Jessica was inspired to work and advocate alongside immigrants in pursuit of a more perfect and humane immigration system. She works on a variety of immigration matters, including family-based petitions, visas for victims of violent crime or domestic violence, citizenship, and DACA. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with her Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Sociology. Jessica received her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law in December 2020. In her free time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, assembling jigsaw puzzles, reading, traveling, and relaxing with her cat.

Hali is originally from Chihuahua Mexico but grew up in Santa Fe. She graduated summa cum laude from Highlands University in 2017 with a B.A. of Arts. Before coming to our office, she was a DOJ Accredited Representative for an organization in Albuquerque who also worked with immigrant families. Her work entails working with victims of crime, family-based petitions, citizenship and others. Hali is interested in law school and hopes to attend in the future. She is very connected to the immigrant community because as an immigrant she believes in advocating for immigrant rights, social justice and the community’s well-being. In her free time she enjoys a book or two and traveling in the U.S.

Based in Albuquerque, NM, Sarah works on a wide variety of programming including family-based immigration, visas for victims of violent crime or domestic violence, and DACA. Sarah graduated from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO, with a Bachelor of Arts in May of 2018. Prior to her work at the Dreamers Project, Sarah worked at a private immigration firm in Kansas City, MO and assisted with the firm's contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children, which strengthened her desire to work alongside and learn from immigrant communities. In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading (particularly memoirs), searching for the best cup of coffee in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and exploring New Mexico's open spaces.

Kevin came aboard Santa Fe Dreamers Project in 2019. He assists the attorneys and accredited representatives with DACA, advance parole (travel document), green card renewal, and citizenship cases for our immigrant clients. He has previously worked with people from other cultures as an English teacher in the U.S. and Japan and has presented at conferences in both countries. With B.A. and M.A. degrees in English, Kevin is also a published writer on language and popular culture. He enjoys going for walks and singing in English, Spanish, and Japanese.

Leslie is an El Paso native and first joined the Santa Fe Dreamers Project in October 2020 as a legal assistant at the El Paso Immigration Collaborative, EPIC. She is now a paralegal at SFDP's Border Project. Her work primarily focuses on asylum and fear interview workshops with LGBTQ+ folks in different parts of Mexico. She also assists with asylum and withholding of removal cases for detained and non-detained folks. Leslie has received her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice from The University of Texas in El Paso. She plans on attending law school to help represent people who are seeking asylum. Whenever possible, Leslie enjoys traveling and exploring new places.

Michael joined Santa Fe Dreamers Project as the Development Director in 2016, and took on the role of Interim Executive Director from July 2020 until May 2022. He is a native New Mexican, but also spent much of his later childhood in Anchorage, Alaska. Michael has worked in education and non-profit administration for organizations serving marginalized populations in New Mexico since 2007. Previously, Michael served as Education Director and Associate Director of YouthWorks, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth with job training, alternative education and other support services. He has a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, and currently lives in Albuquerque.

ben is from Denver where they previously did both community organizing and marketing work. They joined Santa Fe Dreamers Project in 2019 as a Public Ally Apprentice for 20 months. They officially joined our staff as a Communications Assistant in 2021 and as of 2023 are our Community Engagement Manager. They have a background in Marketing. They believe strongly in building a diverse and expansive community in both their personal and professional life.

After completing one year of college in Richmond, Virginia, Ruby returned to her hometown, Santa Fe, and started volunteering with Santa Fe Dreamers Project in the summer of 2023. Shortly after, she became a legal assistant through Public Allies, an Americorps service-based leadership development program. Ruby became interested in studying immigration law after volunteering at Gerard’s House in 2018 as a childcare provider for the Mamas Compartiendo y Sanando (Moms Sharing and Healing) program, which provides grief support and resources for Latinx families who have suffered a range of immigration-related losses such as death, incarceration, deportation, and separation by borders. As she witnessed the emotional and personal side of migration, she became passionate about learning more about the ever-changing and unjust legal side to our country’s immigration policies. Eventually, Ruby would like to return to college to double major in Public Policy and Spanish on the pre-law track, aspiring to become an immigration lawyer. In her free time, Ruby enjoys listening to music, traveling, and crafting (mostly crocheting and sewing).

Michelle joined the Santa Fe Dreamers Project in September 2023 as part of the AmeriCorps Public Allies Program, where they were matched with the non-profit organization for a 10-month apprenticeship commitment to serve as a capacity community builder and folks seeking low to no-cost immigration legal services.

Originally from Southern California, Michelle is currently a graduate student at the University of New Mexico (UNM), working towards a master's degree in Community and Regional Planning. They completed their undergraduate studies at California State Polytechnic University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning in August 2020.

Before joining the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, Michelle held a two-year graduate assistantship at UNM's Women's Resource Center. In this role, they played a pivotal part in the OVW grant initiative, creating programs focused on ending gender-based violence, particularly geared toward UNM students who are survivors of DVSAS.

In their free time, Michelle enjoys spending quality moments with their family in Southern California, savoring coffee outings with their girlfriend, and cuddling with their beloved pup, Bembe. They are dedicated to making a positive impact in their community and are passionate about advocating for social justice and immigration rights.