Attorneys and staff
Three attorneys. One team behind every case.
Tres abogados. Un equipo detrás de cada caso.
Your case is led by a licensed attorney from the first evaluation to the last hearing. The people around them answer the night line, find detained family members, interpret, and keep every deadline.
Our attorneys are licensed in North Carolina, and Samuel Etienne also in New York. Immigration law is federal, so we can represent you in any U.S. immigration court, in person or by video.
Attorneys
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Founding attorney
Marisol Ochoa
Marisol spent six years at a legal aid office in Charlotte before opening Amparo in 2014. She runs the detained docket and answers the hardest calls on the 24-hour line herself. Licensed in North Carolina.
- Focus
- Detained cases, bond hearings, removal defense
- Languages
- English, Español
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Attorney
Samuel Etienne
Samuel came to the firm from a refugee rights clinic in New York. He handles asylum cases in court and at the asylum office, and writes most of the firm's appeals. Licensed in New York and North Carolina.
- Focus
- Asylum, withholding, appeals to the BIA
- Languages
- English, Kreyòl, Français, Español
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Attorney
Ana Lucía Barrios
Ana Lucía worked with survivors at a domestic violence program before law school. She builds the firm's U visa and VAWA cases and works closely with local advocates. Licensed in North Carolina.
- Focus
- U visas, VAWA, cancellation of removal
- Languages
- English, Español
The team around them
Staff do not give legal advice. They make sure the attorney has everything needed, and that you are never left wondering.
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Rosa Interiano
Detention line coordinator
Rosa answers the 24-hour line, finds where people are held and gets the attorney on the phone.
English, Español
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Yohannes Bekele
Interpreter and case assistant
Yohannes interprets at client meetings and helps prepare declarations for East African clients.
English, Amharic, Tigrinya
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Fernanda Lopes
Senior paralegal
Fernanda keeps every deadline on a shared calendar and checks each client's court date after every change.
English, Português, Español
Check us, the way you should check anyone.
Ask any person helping with your immigration case for their bar number and the state that licensed them. Look them up on that state bar's website. A real lawyer will not be offended.
Free case evaluation
Talk to a lawyer about your case.
The first 30-minute case evaluation is free, by phone, video or in person, in English or Spanish.
Urgent
Someone detained, or a court date soon?
(704) 555-0119Answered 24 hours a day, in English and Spanish.
What to do right now