Our People

Carmen Williams is the Language Access and Immigration Advocacy Manager, Project for the Empowerment of Survivors at the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Carmen has experience in providing legal service to survivors of sexual and domestic violence and previously managed the statewide toll-free Family Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline for nine years. Additionally, she has provided technical assistance to SDVAs on services to immigrant victims, including human trafficking with her background in law. Carmen previously served as a member of the Governor’s Latino Advisory Board, Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross-Richmond Chapter. Carmen is Peruvian and holds a law degree from Peru and a master’s degree in International Legal Studies from the American University – Washington College of Law.

Vivian Huelgo is the Chief Counsel at American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence since 2010. Under her leadership, the Commission has expanded its reach and solidified its mission to increase access to justice for victims of domestic and sexual violence by mobilizing the legal profession. Over the last several years, Vivian has established a broad, inclusive vision for the Commission’s work, sponsoring critical policy, increasing its online presence, doubling funding for training and technical assistance to lawyers nationally, and establishing the Task Force on Human Trafficking, while also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Commission. Vivian has worked at the intersection of law and gender-based violence for twenty years. She started her legal career as a prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney’s Office and managed staff attorneys and pro bono lawyers representing domestic violence and human trafficking victims from marginalized populations including immigrant and LGBTQ communities through her work at Community Law Project Director at Sanctuary for Families. In 2015, Vivian was chosen as a selected fellow of Move to End Violence, a program of the NoVo Foundation and is a member of the BIDEN Foundation Violence Against Women Advisory Council. She is also a recipient of the Flor de Maga Award for Women in the Legal Profession from the Puerto Rican Bar Association. Vivian was born in Brooklyn, raised in the City of New York, and now resides in the greater Washington, DC area with her twins.

Michelle Ortiz is the Deputy Director at the American for Immigrant Justice and Program Director for the Lucha: Domestic Violence & Human Trafficking Program. Michelle has specialized in immigration relief for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking for over 14 years. She has presented at numerous conferences and provided trainings on immigration relief available to survivors of violent crime and human trafficking. She represents American for Immigrant  Justice as a member of The Freedom Network, an internationally recognized organization devoted to issues of human trafficking. Michelle previously worked at Gulfcoast Legal Services in St. Petersburg, Florida where she represented low-income immigrants, specializing in assisting survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. She received her Juris Doctor from Stetson University. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Michelle was born and raised in Miami.

Sandra Henriquez is the Chief Executive Officer of ValorUS (formerly the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault or CALCASA) and has more than two decades of experience working in social services, of which 16 years were in nonprofit management. She had demonstrated profound leadership as the former Associate Director for Intervention Programs at the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (now Peace Over Violence). She also served on ValorUS’s board of directors for more than a decade. Her participation on the board was essential to the Coalition’s reorganization, hiring of staff, and the development in policies and procedures.

Sonia Parras Konrad is an activist, attorney, and educator on legal remedies for immigrant survivors of gender violence and labor trafficking. Through her work Sonia strives to promote the organization and leadership of immigrant survivors. She is a writer and a national and international speaker on women’s rights. Sonia has founded and co-founded numerous nonprofit organizations including The Legal Clinic of ICADV, LUNA, LLI of Greater Des Moines and ASISTA, a nationwide organization that provides immigration technical assistance to front line advocates and attorneys. Among other awards, Sonia is the recipient of the 2009 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award for her work in Postville and is involved in rapid-response teams through her work as pro bono coordinator in the Iowa-Nebraska AILA chapter. She is now coordinating an innovative pilot project-free legal clinic “ Almas Valientes” (Advocates and Lawyers Movement for the Advancement of Survivors Valientes!”).

Claudia Medina is the CEO of Transformar, a consulting firm dedicated to building capacity of leaders and nonprofit organizations and to coordinating community planning efforts. She has spent the last 30 years developing programs to enhance immigrant rights, gender equality, and the lives of children and families in her native Colombia and in New Mexico. Claudia co-founded Enlace Comunitario (EC) in 2000 and served as the Executive Director for over 20 years. In addition, Claudia is one of the founders of El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos (The Center for Equality and Rights), Mujeres en Acción (Women in Action), and Plaza de Encuentro. These grassroots organizations have increased the economic, political, and social capital of thousands of immigrant families in New Mexico. She holds a law degree and Master of Arts degrees in Family Studies and Latin American Studies with a concentration in Community Planning.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Margarita Guzman is a queer Chicana and survivor of intimate partner violence. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her law degree from George Washington University School of Law. Upon graduating from law school, Margarita established a legal clinic for indigent Spanish-speaking mental health consumers in New York City. Her legal practice later focused on representing primarily Latin@ immigrant survivors of domestic violence in housing, family and immigration legal matters, as well as teen and young adult survivors. In 2013, she entered civil service at the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, where she ran the Bronx Family Justice Center until joining the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) in 2017. She currently serves as Executive Director at VIP, working with largely immigrant and low-income Latin@ survivors of domestic and sexual violence. As a survivor and a lawyer, Margarita has lived the limits of criminal and civil legal responses to violence and seeks to increase restorative and transformative justice practices to support survivors and change abusive behaviors.

Caroline (Carrie) Bettinger-López is a professor of Law and Director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law. She also serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and is a recipient of the Roddenberry Fellowship for her COURAGE in Policing Project. From 2015-2017, Professor Bettinger-López worked in the Obama Administration, where she served as the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women and a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls. She is lead counsel on Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v. United States (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2011), the first international human rights case brought by a domestic violence victim against the United States.

Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author, and activist. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas. Mónica has received numerous awards, including Harvard Kennedy School’s first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, and the Smithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award. She was named to Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list and TIME Magazine included her in its 2021 TIME100 Next list. Mónica is also an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship. She lives in Ohio with her husband and son.