OUR TEAM
Oasis has a close relationship with the community we serve because our team includes individuals who are LGBTQ+, come from immigrant families, or are immigrants themselves. Three of our board members are LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, two-thirds identify as LGBTQ+, and two-thirds are people of color (POC).
Our 2023 Board of Directors
Raquel Aldana, Daniel Brotsky, Victor Garcia, Jack Kornfield, Jena Lee (Treasurer), Allan Manzanares, Kim Mejia-Cuella, Gerson Pineda, Rhina Ramos (Chair), Ann Schnuer, Kathy Schwarz (Secretary), Lilian Turcios, Korab Zuka
Click here to learn more about our Board.
In June 2023, we welcomed our newest Board Director, Daniel (Dan) Brotsky. Dan was VP and Chief Architect for Business Infrastructure at Adobe before retiring in March of 2022. He now runs a small consulting company, ClickOneTwo LLC, that builds supportive technology for individuals and community groups. He is also an active contributor in the open-source software community.
Dan initially joined the Oasis community as a tech consultant when the organization opened its doors in 2017. He is proud to step into this Director role to continue supporting Oasis and its work.
All of our Board Directors are volunteers. We are actively seeking LGBTQ+ immigrants committed to social justice to engage with our Board of Directors. If you are interested in learning about becoming a Board Director, please contact us!
Our 2023 Staff
A majority of our staff mirror the identities of our clients as members of the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities. Staff also have deep, often lifelong connections to the Bay Area and Central Valley, where our offices are located. Click here to view our team page and learn more about our staff.
Our management team of six has over 60 years of combined experience serving the LGBTQ+ communities; three identify as POC, four are LGBTQ+, three are trans or nonbinary, and half have immigrant backgrounds. Our own Executive Director is proudly queer and nonbinary, and openly discusses his HIV-positive experience to combat stigma and advocate for inclusive policies.
Undergraduate Paralegal Interns work directly with our clients under legal representative supervision to help prepare asylum applications. They also assist our law student interns and pro bono representatives as interpreters. We partner with colleges and universities to offer course credit to undergraduate students interning at Oasis.
Law Student Interns have the opportunity to work with Oasis during the summer, fall, and spring semesters. They work directly with our clients under attorney supervision to help prepare asylum and other affirmative immigration cases, declarations and affidavits, and represent clients at their asylum interviews before USCIS. Oasis works with law schools to facilitate formal externships for credit.
Social Work Graduate-Level Interns support Oasis during the academic year, as part of their MSW field placement process. Social work graduate interns help directly with client case management, as well as research, advocacy, and outreach to community organizations.
Click here to learn more about how to apply for an internship at Oasis.
OUR WORK
Oasis stands out from typical immigration service providers as our model has always included social services navigation. Over the years, we’ve created three standalone immigration programs (asylum, residency, and naturalization) and a social services program. We wholeheartedly believe in this model and continue to share out both best practices and lessons learned so that other immigration service providers can pursue a holistic approach to providing legal representation.
Understanding the intersectionality of our clients’ lived experiences, we treat immigration status as a social determinant of health. Research supports the notion that a lack of immigration status can lead to negative mental health outcomes. And our own client testimonials suggest that undocumented LGBTQ+ immigrants who have social services support are better equipped to pursue long-term immigration relief.
LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities are under constant political and social scrutiny, making queer and trans community immigrants vulnerable to discrimination and hate as they navigate their immigration process and settle into a new country.
Oasis was awarded a $200,000 grant from the California Department of Social Services’ Hate Incidents Unit in the summer of 2023 (Stop the Hate Program Funding) to enhance the direct legal and social services we provide to communities living at the intersections of LGBTQ+ and immigrant identities. Oasis utilizes Stop the Hate funding to expand the reach of our services throughout the state, particularly in the Central Valley region. As a grantee, we work closely with other Stop the Hate organizations to collectively combat discrimination and hate.
Oasis in the Central Valley
Oasis opened its Fresno office to great fanfare in April 2022. We heard from our LGBTQ+ Latine clients that there was not a place for their community to meet and celebrate their culture in Fresno. While Fresno has a diverse population, there are few spaces that center people of color and LGBTQ+ groups. In response, our Fresno team started Noches de Cultura (Cultural Nights) back in the Fall of 2022, where community members can connect over activities like playing lotería or painting while listening to music in Spanish and sharing a meal.
What started as a small event to support our clients has become a part of a greater transformation within the Central Valley community. By hosting events that uplift both LGBTQ+ and Latine communities in Fresno, we have created a space where people feel safe and affirmed. We’ve heard from other community advocates that they are inspired to create affirming affinity spaces of their own.
2023 Fresno Pride Parade
In June 2023, Oasis participated in the Fresno Rainbow Pride Festival. Our Berkeley staff, and clients from all over the Central Valley, joined our team in Fresno to march in the parade and provide resources to community members. One client expressed awe: “I’ve never waved to so many smiling people in my life.”
For our team, being with our clients and witnessing this healing moment along their journey — from escaping persecution to finding safety in the U.S. — was truly “transformative.” Our staff received such positive feedback from clients that we are now looking to participate in additional Pride parades in counties where our clients live so that they, too, can find support and visibility alongside other LGBTQ+ immigrants. Pivotal events like Pride parades are another mechanism for reaching LGBTQ+ immigrants who may not otherwise know about our programs.
Advocacy and “Movement Lawyering”
We break down our advocacy efforts into four arenas: (1) Individual Advocacy, (2) Impact Litigation and Partnerships, (3) Training and Capacity Building, and (4) Data Sharing. With this model, we form a vital part of the ecosystem for movement attorneys, advocating for more equitable laws, policies, and outcomes and guiding others to do the same.
Our Training & Advocacy program takes the knowledge gained from our clients’ experiences to inform our advocacy. As a trusted organization for LGBTQ+ immigrants, our collaborations with LGBTQ+ and immigration advocates have enabled us to become a leading authority in immigration law affecting LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals. With this knowledge and responsibility, we advocate for laws and policies to improve the lives of our clients (with impacts on LGBTQ+ and immigration communities broadly in the U.S.). We also train service providers on serving this demographic in a culturally responsive manner. Together, we aim to expand the capacity of both immigration and social service providers to elevate queer and trans individuals, even as our current immigration system continues to evolve.
Movement Lawyering is a dynamic approach to legal advocacy that extends beyond traditional legal aid, using lessons learned from direct service experiences to contribute to broader social movements and systemic change. As the leading organization on the West Coast championing statewide and national policies benefiting LGBTQ+ immigrants, we hold a responsibility to engage in community organizing that elevates the voices of queer and trans asylum seekers while collaborating with advocacy groups and grassroots initiatives – centering the most impacted community members.
Our legislative and judicial advocacy formally began in 2019 and has been steadily growing. In 2022, we participated in four regulatory advocacy efforts, 12 legislative advocacy efforts, and 28 campaign and letter sign-ons. In 2023, we increased our involvement by participating in 26 regulatory advocacy efforts, 26 legislative efforts, and 22 additional sign-ons.
A Better Future for All LGBTQ+ Employees in California
In January 2023, we represented a client in a settlement with a nationwide chain restaurant who discriminated, harassed, and retaliated against them based on their gender identity, gender expression, and transgender status. After drafting and filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), the case resulted in a victory, not only for our client, but for future LGBTQ+ employees in California.
We previously represented this client in his asylum and green card cases, which resulted in permanent immigration status. As a trusted organization, with over 1,000 of our clients being word-of-mouth referrals, we are positioned to support clients with other legal barriers they may face.
Pro Bono Program
Oasis utilizes the expertise developed through our advocacy work and engagement with LGBTQ+ asylum seekers to provide training and workshops for attorneys locally and nationally on the unique legal, psychological, and social issues that LGBTQ+ immigrants face when pursuing immigration relief.
In turn, a large number of attorneys who attend our training gain the skills to support our clients by providing limited scope representation at asylum interviews and conducting country-conditions research under the mentorship of Oasis staff attorneys.
We are grateful for our partnership with Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Lowey LLP, and Morrison Foerster LLP, as well as all the individual pro bono attorneys who supported our work in 2023.