Yolanda Mendoza

Attorney Mendoza has a deep commitment to public service and is passionate about immigration law. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Harlem, New York City, she comes from a very diverse background. Having navigated through the immigration process herself, she is devoted to the practice of immigration law on a very personal level. Her trajectory in the law began at the young age of 17 when she assisted a family member to respond to a complicated Request for Evidence relating to a family petition. The petition was subsequently approved, and her family member became a lawful permanent resident of the United States after nearly two decades.

In law school, as a student attorney, Ms. Mendoza conducted legal intakes and know your rights presentations in both English and Spanish to detainees in the Suffolk County House of Corrections. She also interviewed asylum seekers of many different racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds and learned how to assess legal claims and forms of relief quickly and efficiently while being mindful of the client’s traumatic experiences. In 2014, Ms. Mendoza, along with a team of fellow clinical students,

persuaded three federal judges in the First Circuit Court of Appeals to release a 41-year-old Jamaican citizen who was about to be deported. This decision overturned the Board of Immigration Appeals and became law. Ms. Mendoza made a pivotal argument in the appeal – that a third-degree assault charged at the state level did not trigger deportation under federal law.

For five years prior to law school, Ms. Mendoza worked as an immigration paralegal at a well-respected New York City immigration firm handling all aspects of immigration law. She also volunteered as a Spanish interpreter for AILA’s juvenile docket program, where she learned important communication skills. After law school, she was an associate at a small firm in Union City, NJ, where she managed and help grow its immigration department. She is an active member in good standing of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) New Jersey and Florida Chapters. Currently, she serves on the ICE-OPLA South Florida Committee and is a past member of the Department of State (DOS) Advocacy and Media Liaison committees for the New Jersey Chapter. Ms. Mendoza is a 2015 graduate of Suffolk Law School in Boston and solely a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Her practice of law is strictly limited to Immigration and Naturalization law. She has clients in all 50 U.S. states.