The Immigration Project

danielle dewinter

Portrait of Danielle DeWinter.

Danielle joined the Immigration Project in July 2017 and is eager to improve access to legal services for immigrants living throughout the state of Illinois. Danielle first began representing immigrants while obtaining her Bachelor Degree in Psychology from Butler University in Indianapolis, IN where she served domestic violence and sexual assault victims in obtain immigration relief. Danielle saw the need for more legal representation for immigrant survivors and went to Valparaiso University School of Law to become an immigration attorney. While in Law School Danielle honed her legal writing skills as an extern with the Department of Homeland Security. Knowing that she was committed to be an advocate for immigrants, she took a position as a Student Attorney at Valparaiso Immigration Clinic where she successfully represented a political asylum seeker in Chicago Immigration Court.

After law school, Danielle continued to be inspired by her immigrant clients’ zeal for life. She committed to serve as an AmeriCorps attorney for two years in Massachusetts representing low-income immigrants in U visa, VAWA, asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, adjustment of status, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals petitions.

As a staff attorney with the Immigration Project, Danielle is determined to continue to serve the immigrant communities throughout Illinois. Her work and passion primarily consist of the representation of immigrant victims of trauma through humanitarian-based immigration petitions and filing family-based immigration petitions for those individuals desiring to keep their families together in the United States. She is also dedicated to getting other attorneys and volunteers involved by developing a pro-bono program to combat the constant need for legal representation.