On the 31st episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen interviews Carmen McDonald. Carmen McDonald is the new Executive Director for Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ) as of March 2023. LACLJ was founded in 1973 and has provided legal advocacy to low-income and primarily immigrant and Latino populations in Los Angeles for over 40 years. Their goal is to secure justice for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and empower them to create their own futures. Carmen was previously the Director of legal services at LACLJ. In her role, she oversaw LACLJ’s domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking projects and LACLJ’s pro bono program, which pairs attorneys with survivors of domestic violence seeking representation at their restraining order hearings. Driven by her passion to help others, she has led representation for hundreds of domestic violence survivors in family court and immigration proceedings and overseen precedent-setting appeals.
Prior to working at LACLJ, Carmen was an attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County where she represented survivors of domestic violence in family law and immigration matters and worked in the Shriver Access to Justice Project assisting tenants with unlawful detainer proceedings. Carmen also previously worked at Break the Cycle where she represented teen survivors of domestic violence in family law matters. Prior to becoming an attorney, Carmen interned at the YWCA of San Diego County assisting survivors of domestic violence in family law matters and at the Gay and Lesbian Center of San Diego County assisting clients living with HIV/AIDS with accessing benefits.
Carmen is the daughter of Cuban immigrants. Carmen received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Central Florida with a minor in Women’s Studies before graduating from California Western School of Law. Carmen was awarded the 2020 Los Angeles Domestic Violence Council Betty Fisher award for her service to survivors of domestic violence.
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“I was always interested in fighting for people’s rights, but the domestic violence piece came later when I saw that women were afraid that if they called the police their abuser would lose their job, and how they would feed their kids? They were afraid that if they called the police, they wouldn’t have a place to live. And so, the whole part about women’s issues and domestic violence all came full circle.”
If you want to apply for services with LACLJ use this link. If you need crisis support, immediate assistance, or shelter 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, please reach out to:
the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or by texting 233733
You can volunteer with LACLJ by signing up here. Follow LACLJ on Instagram, Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter. Please consider donating so that they can continue doing amazing work via this link. Immigration Today! is always releasing new content.
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