As Managing Attorney, Daniella advocates alongside immigrant survivors of gender-based violence on their journeys to justice. She provides trauma-informed counsel and legal representation to survivors in defensive and affirmative asylum, VAWA petitions, T visa and U visa petitions, and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status before immigration courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Daniella also advocates for survivors in their protective order, divorce, and child custody petitions before Maryland state courts.
Prior to re-joining Tahirih in 2021, Daniella was a Senior Attorney at Kids in Need of Defense, where she supervised a team of attorneys and paralegal and advocated for unaccompanied immigrant children in their asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions, and T visa and U visa petitions. Before her position at KIND, Daniella was a Senior Attorney at Tahirih Justice Center’s Baltimore office, where she advocated for immigrant survivors of gender-based violence in their immigration and domestic relations matters. Daniella was a Staff Attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan where she represented indigent immigrant farmworkers in immigration and employment cases, initiated a targeted advocacy project to expand the representation of workplace sexual assault survivors, and developed a community partners network sensitive to the needs of immigrant survivors of workplace sexual assault.
Daniella began her legal career as judicial law clerk to the Honorable Glenn T. Harrell on the Maryland Supreme Court. Currently, Daniella serves as a member of the Baltimore City Hispanic Commission, which serves as a liaison between Baltimore City government and Baltimore Hispanic community, which researches and monitors issues and policies affecting Baltimore’s Hispanic/Latino population, and recommends legislative and policy solutions to the Mayor, the City Council, City agencies and other organizations.
Daniella was born in Ecuador and has spent time abroad in Haiti, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
“The clients at Tahirih Justice Center are heroes. I am honored to work at an organization like Tahirih that is a pioneer in empowering survivors of gender-based violence to pave a path to safety and independence.”
Education: University of Baltimore School of Law, JD; University of Maryland, BA
Languages: Spanish, English
Hometown: Guayaquil, Ecuador
