Monica Ramsy is a litigation fellow in the immigrant rights program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, where she focuses on cases challenging the deportation and detention of Southeast Asian and other vulnerable immigrant populations. Prior to joining Asian Law Caucus, Monica attended the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. During her time as a law student, Monica worked for the ACLU of Southern California’s LGBTQ, Gender and Reproductive Justice Project, the East Bay Community Law Center’s Immigration Unit, and Public Counsel’s Immigrant’s Rights Project. In addition to these roles, Monica enjoyed the opportunity to serve as a student advocate while in law school. In particular, Monica relished the opportunity to support and advocate for marginalized students through her leadership roles in the Womxn of Color Collective, the Middle Eastern Law Students Association, and the Graduate Student Wellness Project. During law school, Monica also dedicated herself to diversifying and decolonizing academic scholarship through her work at the Center for Race & Gender, The California Law Review and The Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy, as well as through her work as a research assistant for Professors Leti Volpp and Russell Robinson. She is particularly passionate about work at the intersection of immigration justice, health justice, and racial justice, and hopes to translate these passions into a career in legal advocacy and scholarship. Prior to law school, Monica received her B.A. in Gender Studies from the University of Southern California and worked as a sexual health educator for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles.
***
Former Fellows
Mimi Thi Nguyen is a California native, born and raised in San Jose. Her passion for immigration stems from the plight of her Vietnamese refugee parents. She dedicates her career to protecting the rights of immigrants and representing clients in family-based immigration petitions. She has assisted over two hundred clients in simple and complex affirmative cases.
Mimi graduated from the University of California, Davis and Golden Gate University School of Law. She was inducted as a member of the Pro Bono Honor Society for her 200+ hours of pro bono legal services throughout her three years of law school. She is deeply committed to community service and has dedicated her time to serving the community. During her first year of law school, Mimi was the VABANC Scholarship Recipient and has since served on the VABANC Board and Executive Board. Mimi also sits on the Vietnamese American Roundtable Executive Board.
“With a broken immigration system that tear families apart, I strive to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform to bring families back together. With the upcoming election, it is important to educate our community on current immigration issues and to encourage civic participation.”
Jaimini Parekh graduated from UCLA School of Law with a specialization in public interest law and policy. Prior to law school she completed her Masters in Environmental Management at Yale University with a focus on international human rights and environmental degradation. During law school Jaimini externed on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with the Honorable Judge Harry Pregerson. She also clerked with the U.S. Department of Justice and worked on enforcement of federal environmental laws. In her final year of law school, Jaimini clerked with Communities for a Better Environment and began working on the environmental justice issue of oil drilling in the communities of South Los Angeles and Wilmington. She first became interested in environmental justice advocacy at age fourteen when she smelled drinking water from Bhopal, India contaminated by Union Carbide, an American pesticide company, that smelled like nail polish remover.
Through the VLF Fellowship, Jaimini will expand on her work in environmental justice and human rights advocacy by working on impact litigation and policy advocacy to protect the right of South Los Angeles and Wilmington communities to be free from toxic air emissions from oil drilling occurring in their backyards.
“Everybody has the basic human right to be a healthy environment where they live, work, and play. I am honored to be working with Communities for a Better Environment to secure that right for Los Angelenos unjustly impacted by toxic contamination in their backyards due to oil drilling.”
David Ta, University of San Francisco School of Law
David Ta graduated from the University of California, Davis and the University of San Francisco School of Law. Prior to law school, David worked as a case manager in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in addition to assisting immigrant taxi drivers comply with San Francisco’s regulatory scheme. He has served as a NAPABA summer law fellow at Advancing Justice-ALC to represent low-income monolingual immigrant workers at administrative hearings.
Through the VLF Fellowship, David continues his commitment to improving access to justice for immigrant workers by focusing specifically on taxi drivers, shuttle drivers, and other non-union transportation drivers. David has observed firsthand the long hours, low pay, and hazardous health conditions in which many drivers work. He provides direct legal services to drivers related to their workplace rights.
“I am honored for the opportunity to make a difference by providing legal access to underserved communities. Labor law is designed to protect those in poverty and I plan on bringing awareness to those issues through outreach, direct services and impact litigation.”
Jacqueline Dan, UCLA School of Law
Jacqueline Dan graduated from Rice University and UCLA School of Law. She serves as a staff attorney with Advancing Justice-OC, where she has been practicing immigration law for more than four years. Jacqueline has also served as a judicial extern with the Immigration Court of Los Angeles, interned at the National Immigration Law Center and the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project with Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc.
Through the VLF Fellowship, Jacqueline intends on expanding her work with Southeast Asian immigrants challenging unlawful immigration detention or deportation. Specifically, she will focus on providing services to refugees and long-term residents who face immigration consequences through the criminal justice system – an area of law that has significant need yet lacks resources as it has largely been overlooked.
“Growing up in a community of Vietnamese refugees where many struggled to recover from trauma taught me that many immigrants from war-torn countries face significant challenges to thriving in the U.S. These issues are often poorly understood, not only by society as a whole, but especially within our own community.”
Betty Duong, University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall)
Betty received her degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall).
Through the VLF fellowship, Betty provided direct legal services to the Vietnamese American community through the Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center, the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center, and the VABANC legal clinics to develop a monthly Workers’ Rights Clinic to provide advice and direct representation to Vietnamese-American workers. In addition, Betty provided general legal advice and information regarding labor and employment issues via a monthly Vietnamese radio talk show and monthly Vietnamese newspapers series. Betty is currently working in the office of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
Gina Szeto, University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall)
Before law school, Gina was a community organizer in New York and San Francisco Chinatown focusing on Asian American workers’ rights issues. During her time at UC Berkeley School of Law, she served as Director of the Workers’ Rights Clinic, Chair of the Women of Color Collective, and Editor-in-Chief of the Asian American Law Journal. Gina graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law in 2012 and focused on The Nail Salon Project at the Asian Law Caucus as a VABANC Law Foundation Fellow.
The Nail Salon Project served low-wage, Asian immigrant workers, with an emphasis on nail salon workers in the Vietnamese community through direct legal services, outreach and education, policy advocacy, and impact litigation. The Project focused on the nail salon industry, where approximately 80% of nail salon workers are Vietnamese.
Since 2012, Gina has been representing low-wage, Asian immigrant workers in the nail salon, caregiving, and restaurant industry. Many of these workers have claims for non-payment of minimum wage, discrimination, and unlawful termination. In 2014 she, along with the rest of the workers’ rights team at the Asian Law Caucus and the Chinese Progressive Association helped win $4 million in backpay and penalties for over 260 current and former workers at Yank Sing restaurant in San Francisco, CA. Gina is currently working on cases involving wage theft and labor trafficking.
Nikki Uyen Dinh, Golden Gate University School of Law
Nikki Uyen Dinh was raised by Vietnamese refugee parents who instilled in her the importance of a good education and the love of community service. Growing up in an immigrant family and community has also fueled Nikki’s passion for understanding the law and gaining the power to advocate for those in her community.
Nikki received her degrees from the University of California, Irvine and Golden Gate University School of Law, where she graduated with a specialization in Public Interest and as a member of the Pro Bono Honor Society. During law school, Nikki founded Diversity Week at Golden Gate University and served on the board of the National Asian Pacific American Law Society. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Golden Gate University Diversity Graduation Award for her efforts in promoting diversity in the legal profession and the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Student Award.
In 2010, Nikki was selected as the inaugural VABANC Public Interest Fellow. She played a key role in serving the Vietnamese community and building capacity so more families would have access to justice. During her fellowship she provided legal services to dozens of monolingual Vietnamese speaking clients and under-served families who would not have been able to afford an attorney otherwise. She conducted several workshops and free legal clinics in Vietnamese and English. She believes that people in the community should be informed of their rights in America, regardless of what language they speak. In addition, Nikki has organized over 50 free legal clinics in this capacity and continues to build resources for the community.