Fernanda Cecilia Bustamante-Migone

I am an active member of the State Bar of California and the American Immigration Lawyers Association who has advocated for hundreds of asylum applicants and won several defenses to deportation in US immigration courts. I have fout hard to achieve legal immigration status for the most disadvantaged clients, especially those who were victims of domestic violence and other life-threatening crimes.

I grew up in a family that immigrated from Peru, and am a fluent English and Spanish speaker. Long before embarking on my law degree, I  demonstrated my deep commitment to immigrant rights by spending hundreds of hours volunteering as an interpreter for asylum applicants, many of whom were fleeing domestic violence and civil unrest in Central America.

I earned my JD from the University of San Francisco, graduating cum laude and earning prestigious awards and scholarships throughout my academic career. As a law student, I partnered with the UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies on a project that involved interviewing experts and witnesses about gender-based violence in Guatemala. By providing pro bono legal advice at Centro Legal de la Raza, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, I assisted hundreds of clients without the means to pay for legal counsel.

I stay deeply connected with my Latina roots as an accomplished musician and folkloric dancer. I performs with Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco, Bululú, the De Rompe y Raja Cultural Association, and many other musical ensembles around the Bay Area.