Meet Jennie
Jennie Pasquarella is a civil rights attorney and founder of The Habeas Project, PLLC. She specializes in federal immigration habeas litigation, representing people facing unlawful detention and working to secure their release.
Her habeas work primarily centers on longtime U.S. residents from Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian communities who came to the United States as children and are now being held unlawfully in immigration detention. These are people who have built their lives here, raised families here, and belong here.
Jennie doesn’t just file petitions and disappear. She works in close partnership with families throughout the process, connects them with trusted lawyers for what comes after release, and treats everyone with the dignity they deserve during an impossibly difficult time.
Jennie grew up in South Seattle and currently lives there with her family. For fifteen years, she led the Immigrants’ Rights Project at the ACLU of Southern California, supervising teams of lawyers and organizers, litigating in federal courts across the country, and challenging policies that stripped longtime U.S. residents of their dignity.
She has testified before Congress, negotiated with federal agencies, and won class-action cases that changed how the system works.
“My husband was detained by immigration during a regular yearly check-in. Through Jennie’s skills, compassion, dedication, and commitment, she reunited our family and got my husband released. Her knowledge of the habeas corpus process ensures that everyone’s rights are protected and are heard.”
– C.P. Client
In Cambodia, interviewing deportees from Washington State
Jennie currently serves as Legal Director at the Seattle Clemency Project, where she leads legal work on behalf of Washington residents facing excessively long sentences and harsh immigration consequences due to criminal convictions. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law, where she teaches a seminar on the Law and Politics of Deportation and co-taught the Defender Clinic. Jennie is admitted to practice in Washington and California.
When she’s not helping clients and community members navigate the horrors of immigration detention and deportation, she’s shuttling her kids to activities, teaching and mentoring the next generation of lawyers and advocates, rowing on Lake Washington or running along its shore, and trying to create beauty around her.
If your loved one has been detained and you need help, please get in touch.
Education
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC
Juris Doctor, May 2006. Public Interest Law Scholar. Certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies.
Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in Anthropology, May 2000. Departmental Honors. Academic Distinction.
Professional Memberships & Leadership
Washington State Bar (active); California State Bar (active); New York State Bar (inactive)
Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Board Member, October 2015—present; Board President, Jan. 2016—Jan. 2018
Federal Court Admissions
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit