Staff

Sokainah Mahmutovic is a member of the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project team in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her focus is on immigration relief available to victims of domestic violence and crime. Sokainah graduated from Grand Valley State University with a degree in International Relations, concentrating on Middle Eastern Studies, and a minor in Political Science. She is a graduate from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School where she received her Juris Doctor degree. While attending law school, Sokainah interned for MIRC’s Grand Rapids office which allowed her to advance her knowledge and expand her interest in immigration law. She is a passionate world traveler and has a strong devotion to human rights and social justice. Sokainah is fluent in Arabic.

Susan E. Reed is an Attorney/Director with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Susan is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and Marquette University. Susan has practiced immigration and immigrant rights law since 2003. Susan has also served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and as a regional attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her particular interests include the intersection of family and immigration law, the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant eligibility for public benefits and programs, and civil rights. In 2013, Susan was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the Foreign Language Board of Review as the LEP Populations Advocate and served two terms. She also served as a committee member of the Court's Limited English Proficiency Implementation Advisory Committee. Susan is passionate about immigrant access to driver's licenses and identification and is the Michigan Department of State Liaison for the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association. Susan is a proud member of the first class of W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellows.

Tania is the Supervising Attorney for the Unaccompanied Children's team. She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a concentration in Latin American studies from the University of South Alabama. She also pursued her Master's degree in Political and Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM).

In 2017, she earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. As a student, she worked with the Human Trafficking Clinic, Unemployment Insurance Clinic and Community and Economic Development Clinic. She was a Geneva Extern Scholar at the International Services for Human Rights. Upon graduation she worked in the area of business immigration at ACA and later joined MIRC in 2018 as part of the Detroit Front Door Project focusing on removal defense and later the Immigration Court Helpdesk. She most recently worked at LGL focusing on family immigration and consular processing before returning to MIRC.

She grew up with a fascination for justice and the rule of law due to her father’s work as a social scientist. Her mother’s status as an immigrant motivated her to work in the field of immigration. She is bilingual and a dual citizen of Mexico and the U.S. She loves anime (Shingeki no Kyojin), video games (Borderlands), tacos (al pastor), and her dog (Marla).

Thailyn is a paralegal for unaccompanied refugee minors at our Lansing office. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Criminal Justice with double minors in Security Management and Law, Justice, and Public Policy. Thailyn has a passion for social justice and advocating for marginalized communities. She loves to travel, exercise, and try new things in her free time!

Valeria was born and raised in Southwest Detroit, both of her parents immigrated from Honduras in order to provide their family with a better future, which is why she chose to pursue higher education and graduate from Michigan State University where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in Humanities Pre-Law and minored in both Global Studies and Leadership in Integrated Learning. In the future, Valeria plans to attend law school and become an immigration lawyer, committed to providing better opportunities for immigrant communities and giving back to those who have inspired her journey.

Yevgeniya immigrated to the United States as a child refugee from the Soviet Union. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a BA in Sociology with an emphasis on Law, Criminology, and Deviance. Yevgeniya is a graduate of University of Minnesota Law School where she participated in Minnesota Justice Foundation fellowship and internship both with a focus on immigration law. At Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Yevgeniya will specialize in representing unaccompanied children. In her free time, Yevgeniya loves to paint, practice yoga, study languages on Duo Lingo, and raise her two cats Stella and Lilly.