by Adam Delezenne
SWIRC is excited to announce that Veronica Beltran has joined our small team as Legal Director!
Veronica is an attorney who began immigrant advocacy work at a young age in Holland, MI. Her father, an immigrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, would take Veronica to immigration reform marches & other progressive demonstrations since she was a child. This exposure to social justice issues, as well as witnessing how her own family had been affected by legal issues, motivated her to become an attorney to be a voice for her community. Veronica received her BA from Grand Valley State University and her Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
At Detroit Mercy Law, Veronica was her class’ Vivere Ex Missione recipient which is presented each year during commencement exercises to graduating students who best exemplify Detroit Mercy’s mission. As a staff member at Detroit Mercy Law’s Immigration Law Clinic, Beltran supported the professors and students as they help people seeking asylum in the United States. She also represented immigrants in Detroit Immigration Court as a student attorney. Her work with immigrants continued as President of the Hispanic & Latino Law Student Association. She also volunteered and recruited other students to volunteer at immigrant and refugee legal clinics in Detroit. Beltran has a track record of challenging injustice in a number of different venues. She has also volunteered her time to help clients at the expungement clinic hosted at the Michigan Supreme Court and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Court.
As Legal Director, Veronica will be a regular presence in our legal clinics as well as taking on a number of the clients we are currently representing. We’re excited for the perspective and energy that she brings to her role. With two full-time attorneys on staff, we expect to be able to serve our current clients more effectively as well as taking on even more people who desperately need legal services they can afford.
The Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center provides free and low-cost legal services to those who need them most in the Detroit area, with a focus on recent immigrants and refugees.
We were founded in 2014 by Kevin Piecuch, our Executive Director
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