Bridget Cambria

Bridget Cambria, Esq. is a Partner in the law offices of Cambria & Kline, P.C., specializing in immigration law. Known for providing attentive and dedicated advocacy for people dealing with immigration issues, Bridget has a proven ability to successfully represent individuals with family related immigration matters, removal defense, asylum related issues, claims under the VAWA, issues concerning immigration detention, applications for post conviction relief and other complex areas of immigration law.

Since May of 2014, Bridget, and her firm of Cambria & Kline, PC, has represented more than 100 families detained at the Berks County Residential Center, including those in short term detention and those subject to prolonged detention exceeding one year. Cambria & Kline’s litigation efforts have resulted in grants of Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT protections in detention and upon release in the Immigration Court, BIA and Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In October of 2015, Bridget and Jackie were awarded the Pennsylvania Pro Bono Award for assisting in the representation of more than 200 families who have been subject to prolonged family detention in Pennsylvania.

Cambria & Kline has been, and is, committed to ending family detention locally and nationwide. With the efforts of this firm, and other local advocates, the State of Pennsylvania has announced that it will not renew the license for the Berks County Residential Center. Further, Pennsylvania announced that the facility is not in compliance with license requirements as it operates as a secure facility detaining solely immigrant families. In so finding, the State has announced that there is no law in Pennsylvania that permits the detention of refugee families.

Ms. Cambria is a graduate of the Roger Williams School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island, receiving her Juris Doctorate in May, 2006. She also carries a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Sociology from Albright College, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Attorney Cambria was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in May of 2007. She has since specialized in the area of Immigration Law.

From 2011 to 2014, Bridget Cambria served as a managing attorney for a city law firm developing relationships with the culturally diverse Philadelphia community and managing a robust and busy immigration practice spanning all areas of immigration law.

From 2007 through 2011, Attorney Cambria worked exclusively on immigration matters in the Law Office of George A. Pliakas, Esq. in Providence, Rhode Island, a law firm with over 40 years of specialization and success dealing with immigration matters. There she gained trust within immigrant communities and became dedicated to the plight of people struggling to keep their family together or those who wish to live, work or study in the United States.

Prior to entering law school, Ms. Cambria worked as a Shelter Care Counselor for the Berks County Residential Center in Reading, PA for those families and children detained by Immigration. Through this employment Ms. Cambria was able to work first-hand with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) providing daily care and attention to families and children who were apprehended by ICE. This experience offered her a unique perspective to those dealing with the immigration system and compassion for those families trapped in the difficult process of becoming legal residents and citizens of the United States.

Notably, Bridget was successful in setting an essential precedent in 2013. In the case of Matter of Zeleniak, 26 I&N Dec. 158 (BIA 2013), Bridget successfully argued that in the absence of DOMA, immigration law could not, and did not, prevent the legal right of same sex couples to petition for their spouses and to have same sex marriages legally recognized under Immigration laws. Attorney Cambria has experience advocating for clients before many Immigration Courts throughout the United States including Philadelphia, Newark, Baltimore, New York, Hartford, and Boston. Additionally, she has successfully represented people before the Board of Immigration Appeals and is a Board Member for the Literacy Council of Reading-Berks.