Yazmin Rodriguez, Esq.

Yazmin Rodriguez is the owner of Esperanza Law, a low-bono immigration firm in the state of Connecticut that focuses primarily on representing individuals in removal proceedings.

 

Yazmin was born in Bogotá, Colombia and came to the United States at the young age of 13. Yazmin developed a passion to represent vulnerable populations, primarily immigrants and low-income individuals with mental illness, while working as a paralegal for different immigration non-profits in the state of New York and later on, while working for the Connecticut Legal Rights Project (CLRP), a firm that represents people with mental illness in the state of CT.  While at CLRP, Yazmin attended Quinnipiac University School of Law where she obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 2012.

 

In 2014, her firm was at the forefront of addressing a humanitarian crisis when it assumed representation of many of the women and children that were fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. Esperanza continues to follow a low-bono model of representation that is unique in the state of Connecticut and has helped countless of immigrants obtain access to quality legal representation, clients who might otherwise face deportation without an attorney.

 

Through her work with these children and their families, Yazmin started developing her activism by working with groups such as Unidad Latina en Accion and the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA). Yazmin believes in the power of activism to change case outcomes, in supporting policy and advocacy initiatives that look into changing the broken immigration system, and in organizing as a strategy to win cases outside of the courtroom.

Yazmin is currently the Co-Chair of the Connecticut Bar Association's Immigration Law Committee. Yazmin has received numerous awards and recognitions over the course of her career, including the CT Law Tribune Giant Slayer Award, the CWEALF "One Woman Makes a Difference" Award, and the CHBA Community Service Award. Yazmin continues to speak on various panels about issues that affect our immigrant community.