{"id":19094,"date":"2023-10-10T15:13:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T20:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/?p=19094"},"modified":"2023-10-10T15:14:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T20:14:18","slug":"working-the-system-susana-de-leons-tireless-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/2023\/10\/10\/working-the-system-susana-de-leons-tireless-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Working the System: Susana De Le\u00f3n’s tireless advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Susana De Le\u00f3n ’01<\/p><\/div>\n

The moment this year when Minnesota ended a 20-year ban on undocumented immigrants being able to legally obtain drivers\u2019 licenses was a moment for Susana De Le\u00f3n ’01 to reflect on her long career as an immigration attorney.<\/p>\n

The law was a win amidst what has been years of frustration with a system that De Le\u00f3n says is designed to keep people out, rather than bring them in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no real goodwill to create a system that deals with immigration in an efficient, humane and expedited manner,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the 22 years I\u2019ve been practicing, plus a few years before that as a student worker, I am still serving some of the clients I served in the late 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n

That frustration keeps De Le\u00f3n focused: \u201cMy priorities are clear. I get up early and I approach things in a certain way that allows me to be present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Torreon, Mexico, De Le\u00f3n emigrated to the United States in 1985 and moved to Minnesota four years later. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, she headed to law school and chose William Mitchell because of its support of nontraditional students. She had two young children at the time. The school also offered ample opportunity to connect with mentors and lawyers in the field who helped her land internships and gain valuable experiences that she still uses.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell<\/a>

This article first appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of Mitchell Hamline Law magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

After graduating in 2001, De Le\u00f3n opened her own law firm advocating for immigrant families. She marvels at how much personal information her clients at De Le\u00f3n and Nestor must disclose\u2014including medical and psychological records\u2014as they fight for asylum or crime victim visas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s particularly troubling when the people going through that process are original Indigenous people of this continent,\u201d she said. \u201cThree centuries ago, not only were they all free to come and go, but a large part of what is now the U.S. was still Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obscene that descendants of those same indigenous people have to go through this degrading process.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Le\u00f3n\u2019s exposure to degradation dates to her mother\u2019s stories in Mexico of being shamed for wearing traditional dresses and having long hair. From an early age, De Le\u00f3n took up traditional Aztec dancing. The dances are part of ceremonies that aim to \u201chonor and connect with ancestors.\u201d She founded Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue in 2000 to keep that culture alive in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

In 2018, she became a \u201cgeneral\u201d in the dance tradition, which she told MPR News<\/a> was \u201charder to earn than her law degree.\u201d The distinction \u201cmeans I have great responsibility to preserve the teachings of our ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

As frustrating as the immigration system is, De Le\u00f3n still takes time to appreciate the wins\u2014from a new Drivers\u2019 Licenses for All law that she advocated for to temporary or permanent visa reprieves for her clients. She also won a lifetime achievement award this year from the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs for her decades of tireless advocacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m a cynic because the system is not working,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the reason we get these wins is because we keep chugging through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps me here, and it keeps me devoted to my clients and their cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was written by Riham Feshir, a freelance writer in the Twin Cities.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moment this year when Minnesota ended a 20-year ban on undocumented immigrants being able to legally obtain drivers\u2019 licenses was a moment for Susana De Le\u00f3n ’01 to reflect on her long career as an immigration attorney. The law was a win amidst what has been years of frustration with a system that De … <\/p>\n

Working the System: Susana De Le\u00f3n’s tireless advocacy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":19096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,3,162,165,175,163,1],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-19094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-alumni-spotlight","9":"category-feature","10":"category-features","11":"category-homepage","12":"category-news","13":"category-news-and-events","14":"tag-alumni","15":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}