Megan Jordi Brody

I have been passionate about helping immigrants feel welcome since I was a child.  Growing up in a a small town in Indiana that experienced a drastic influx of immigrants from Mexico who worked in the RV industry, I soon realized that many of my classmates and friends were living in the shadows and would not be able to enjoy the same opportunities as I would have after high school.  I recognized the injustice of forcing people to live in fear while reaping the economic benefits of their contributions, and so I decided in high school that I wanted to be an immigration attorney--to try to make immigrants' lives a little easier.

I began my career in immigration law in 2004 as an Americorps paralegal on the Texas/Mexico border at ProBAR (Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project), where I assisted attorneys in representing adults and unaccompanied minors in immigration detention. This experience solidified my decision to attend law school and defend immigrants' right to due process free from abuse.  During law school and graduate school, I worked at Catholic Charities, assisting immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault obtain lawful status and find safety through referrals to community partners offering mental health and family law services.

After graduating cum laude from law school in 2010, I co-founded New Mexico Immigrant Law Center () the first non-profit in the state of New Mexico dedicated to defending low-income immigrants facing deportation. The organization is thriving today and serves as an incubator for leadership development of immigrants and people of color in the legal profession.