ISLA
IMMIGRATION SERVICES & LEGAL ADVOCACY
OUR MISSION
Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) is a legal services organization that defends the rights of our immigrant communities and advocates for just and humane immigration policy.
Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) is a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Donations to ISLA are tax-deductible.
WHAT WE DO
Immigrants in the United States are not entitled to an attorney in their removal proceedings. Instead, if they cannot afford an attorney, they are forced to present their legal cases before an immigration judge on their own. This typically takes place in a foreign language, and against a trained attorney representing the government. In an attempt to even the playing field, ISLA attorneys visit detained immigrants at the eleven ICE Processing Centers in the region on a weekly basis and provide pro bono representation under a universal representation model before the Immigration Courts. Through this service, ISLA ensures that detained immigrants' due process rights are protected and that our clients do not have to attend these hearings and present their cases on their own.
MISSION
ISLA is a legal services organiza that defends the rights of our immigrant communities and advocates for just and humane immigration policy.
VISION
Our justice system's core principle is that of due process, where everyone has a fair and meaningful opportunity to be heard. We look forward to the day when no immigrant has to appear before an immigration court without a representative.
MEET ISLA
HOMERO LÓPEZ, JR.
Legal Director and Co-Founder
Homero is ISLA's Legal Director. As the son of a migrant worker, Homero grew up moving around the country and living among immigrant communities his entire life. Before co-founding ISLA, Homero was the managing attorney at Catholic Charities-Archdiocese of New Orleans where he oversaw a legal team of 30 attorneys, accredited representatives, and legal assistants focusing on representing Unaccompanied Children and immigrant victims of crime. Before that, Homero was a staff, and later, supervising attorney at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge where he conducted the Legal Orientation Program for detained immigrants at the LaSalle Detention Facility and primarily focused on detained cases. Homero is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana.
AL PAGE
Executive Director and Co-Founder
Al Page is the Executive Director at ISLA. She is a graduate of McGill University and Tulane Law School. After law school, she received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to represent unaccompanied immigrant minors, and at the completion of the project, she was hired by Catholic Charities of New Orleans where she continued her work as a Senior Staff Attorney, in addition to running a city-wide immigration self-help program. Recently, she founded ISLA to address the egregious deprivation of due process for immigrants in detention.
EMMA MORLEY
Paralegal
Emma Morley is a paralegal at ISLA. She received her B.A. from the University of New Orleans in Political Science and graduated with Honors. Prior to joining ISLA, she worked as a paralegal at Catholic Charities in the Unaccompanied Minors Program. At Catholic Charities, she received accreditation to practice as a Department of Justice Representative and represented clients in their applications for relief with USCIS.
Teresa Reyes-Flores
Immigrant Justice Corps Legal Fellow
Teresa is an Immigrant Justice Corps Justice Fellow at ISLA. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University School of Law. As a first-generation American, she grew up watching her Salvadoran mother’s ten-year journey to obtaining lawful status. As a law clinic student in Texas A&M’s Immigrant Rights Clinic and intern with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Teresa worked with asylum seekers and unaccompanied children. As an intern at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, she aided the pro se asylum clinic for individuals subject to the Remain in Mexico policy.
Jessica Gutierrez
Immigrant Justice Corps Legal Fellow
Jessica was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Government and Study of Women & Gender from Smith College in 2012. Before law school, Jessica was a BIA Accredited Representative for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault at Mosaic Family Services. Her passion for immigrant rights led her to attend Lewis & Clark Law School where she received her J.D. in 2021. Jessica is excited to become part of the ISLA as an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow.
Eva Lechuga
Administrative Assistant
Eva Lechuga is the administrative assistant at ISLA. She is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans where she majored in Criminal Justice. Prior to joining ISLA, she worked as a case manager at the New Orleans Family Justice Center, where she assisted the Latino community across the greater New Orleans area with crisis and case management services for numerous years.
GET INVOLVED
You Can Make a Difference
We provide free immigration representation to detained immigrants at the Pine Prairie detention center. In order to keep our services free and reach more clients, we need your help. If you can, please donate.
Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) is a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Donations to ISLA are tax-deductible.
IN THE NEWS
July 9, 2019
ICE Just Quietly Opened Three New Detention Centers, Flouting Congress’ Limits
"Over eight years, America’s harshest immigration judge denied more than 200 claims in a row."
July 6, 2019
"Your Judge Is Your Destiny"
Agnelis L. Reese has presided over more than 200 hearings during the past five years as an immigration judge. Unique among her peers, she has rejected every single case.
