Julia Valero
Julia is a Paralegal & Intake Coordinator with The Advocates for Human Rights' Refugee & Immigrant Program. In this role, she oversees the day-to-day of the intake process and transmittal process for accepted cases. This includes managing the client line, coordinating phone intakes and referrals, deliberation reporting, data entry, and case closing, including client interviews and public write-ups. She also provides in-house case support to staff attorneys and coordinates with undergraduate interns.
Prior to joining The Advocates, Julia's grounding in an abolitionist, holistic, and client-centered approach to immigration legal advocacy comes from her prior work with the Family Detention Services team at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) in San Antonio, TX. As a Legal Assistant, she assisted families under a universal representation model who were detained in Karnes family immigration prison and subjected to expedited removal, including fathers and sons separated by the Zero Tolerance policy who faced indefinite imprisonment at Karnes in the summer and fall of 2018. In 2019, Julia became the Karnes Pro Bono Volunteer Manager, in which she worked closely with legal, social work, and language volunteers to provide services to families at Karnes. In 2020, Julia became an Advocacy Coordinator with the Family Detention Services team. In this role, she was often the primary contact with clients engaging in external advocacy, and she contributed to freedom campaigns, reports, advocacy videos, CRCL complaints, litigation, press releases, and other organizing efforts that bridged between the legal and comms advocacy worlds. In her time as Karnes Pro Bono Volunteer Manager and Advocacy Coordinator, she also coordinated mental health and medical assessments at multiple detention centers.
In addition to working with detained families, Julia has also worked closely with detained adults and unaccompanied children. Beyond expedited removal, Julia has assisted individuals and families undergoing regular removal proceedings (detained and non-detained), MPP, Title 42, bond proceedings, and more. Throughout her time with RAICES, Julia gained experience in emergency legal response.
Julia graduated from St. Olaf College in 2018 with a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish. As a former undergraduate intern with The Advocates, she is excited to grow into her new role with the perspective she gained in her time away.
