Meet our leadership
Our small team of attorneys and social workers has a deep knowledge base and diverse backgrounds in child advocacy, removal defense, immigration, family, and administrative law.
We have worked in small firms, big firms, and non-profit organizations and we have been pro bono attorneys and pro bono coordinators. CILA has many decades of collective experience that we are pleased to be able to share with the community.
Dalia Castillo-Granados
Dalia Castillo-GranadosDirector
Dalia Castillo-Granados is the director and co-founder of the Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA), a project of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Immigration. Dalia is a frequent speaker on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and led the effort at the ABA to advocate for deferred action for SIJS youth stuck in the visa backlog. Prior to working at CILA, Dalia was a senior attorney at Kids in Need of Defense, a staff attorney at Tahirih Justice Center, a clinical supervising attorney at the University of Houston’s Immigration Clinic, and a Greenberg Traurig, LLP Equal Justice Works fellow at Catholic Charities’ Cabrini Center. Throughout her career, Dalia has represented hundreds of children in their immigration proceedings and before Texas state courts. Dalia is also active in her community. She is on the steering committee for the End SIJS Backlog Coalition, the advisory board for the National Immigration Litigation Alliance (NILA), and a board member of the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project (GHIRP). Dalia was also the 2023-2024 president of the Houston Association of Women Attorneys (AWA).
Yasmin Yavar
Yasmin YavarDeputy Director
Yasmin Yavar is the Deputy Director with the ABA’s Children’s Immigration Law Academy. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, where she fell in love with immigration law through Barbara Hines’ immigration clinic and a brief summer internship at ProBAR. She began her legal career as a commercial litigator at the Houston office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. After three years, Yasmin relocated to Harlingen, Texas for a year to work for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) and learn the ropes of removal defense for detained adults. She returned to Houston and was the first employee of Kids in Need of Defense’s Houston office, serving as the pro bono coordinator. Immediately prior to working at CILA, Yasmin worked as a consultant for ProBAR’s Children’s Project.
Laura Egan
Laura EganManaging Attorney for Pro Bono & Communications
Laura Egan is the Managing Attorney for Pro Bono & Communications with the ABA’s Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA). She graduated from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC in 2011. She obtained a certificate in Comparative and International Law and participated in the International Business and Trade program in Krakow, Poland and interned in a Human Rights clinic while in Krakow. Laura became passionate about immigration law during law school when she participated in her school’s Columbus Community Legal Services Families and the Law Clinic and worked with refugees and asylees while interning with International Rescue Committee’s immigration program. Laura started her legal career as a disability attorney representing hundreds of clients in administrative hearings in Washington, Oregon, and California. Prior to joining CILA, Laura worked in removal defense in Seattle, Washington, where she managed the non-detained docket.
Blanca Vazquez
Blanca VazquezManaging Social Worker
Blanca Vazquez is the Managing Social Worker with CILA. She earned her Bachelor of Social Work from Azusa Pacific University and later completed her Master of Social Work at Loma Linda University. Her career began at the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley where she organized Know Your Rights trainings, supported trauma survivors and developed community resource Guides. She later joined RAICES, supporting families released from detention and providing case management for the Refugee Cash Assistance Program. She then joined the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants as a Social worker for unaccompanied youth, developing culturally responsive case plans and delivering crisis interventions. Prior to joining CILA, she served as the Community Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator with the International Refugee Assistance Project where she coordinated international partner engagement and facilitated trainings for service providers.
Meredith Linsky
Meredith LinskyDirector of the ABA Commission on Immigration in Washington, DC
Meredith Linsky is the Director of the ABA Commission on Immigration in Washington, DC. She was formerly the Director of ProBAR, the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, located in Harlingen, Texas, from 2000 to 2014, where she supervised staff and mentored volunteers working on behalf of detained immigrants and asylum-seekers. Previously, she worked as a Research and Writing Attorney at the Office of the Federal Defender in the Eastern District of California. In 2012, the American Immigration Lawyers Association awarded Ms. Linsky with the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award for her outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights. In 2013, the State Bar of Texas honored her with the J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award. Ms. Linsky is a 1998 graduate of the University of California, Davis, School of Law.