Meet Our Staff
Executive Director
Adam is a second generation Asian American (born and raised in San Francisco) and single foster-adoptive parent of a Chicana/Latinx daughter. He is proudly queer and openly discusses his HIV-positive experience to combat stigma and advocate inclusive policies. As an AmeriCorps VISTA at Upwardly Global, Adam supported refugee and asylee job-seekers. Adam also served as a legal advocate in Hawai`i for Micronesian newcomers, partnering with pediatricians to address health care access and domestic violence support for families. Adam manages donor relations, develops community-oriented donor campaigns, and uplifts Oasis’ mission in local, national, and international coalitions. Adam graduated from UC Davis majoring in both African Studies and International Studies, with emphasis on global conflict and strategies for peace. He received his JD from UH Mānoa and is a member of the Hawai`i Bar. Adam’s international outlook and familiarity with domestic and local issues inspires his work in community organizing and coalition building.
Adam Ryan Chang (he/him)
Executive Director
Legal Program
Rachel was born and raised in the East Bay and has deep roots here. She comes from a family with a long history of activism and troublemaking and always knew she wanted to be a lawyer and work directly with communities impacted by U.S. imperialism and white supremacy. Before transitioning to immigration law, Rachel worked as a public defender in Miami, representing children and adults accused of crimes. Rachel is one of Oasis’ founders and continues to manage our Legal Program and represent clients in complex immigration cases. Rachel is fluent in Spanish after time spent living and studying in Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and New York University School of Law. In her non-Oasis life, Rachel enjoys spending time with her partner and children, exploring all the beauty and quirkiness the Bay Area has to offer.
Rachel Kafele (she/her)
Director of Programs & Advocacy
Anuar Arriaga Esquivel was raised in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States as a child. He’s worked in immigration law for nearly ten years and has a deep personal connection to Oasis’s mission. Anuar attended UC Berkeley as an undocumented student and graduated with a bachelor’s in English. As a Legal Advocate, he helps screen applicants for immigration relief, files their applications, and prepares and represents clients during their interviews with USCIS. In his free time, Anuar enjoys dance, literature, speaking Portuguese, and woodworking.
Anuar Arriaga Esquivel (he/him)
Asylum Legal Advocate |
DOJ Accredited Rep
Marisa Lopez Arriola is a Bay Area native born in Oakland and raised in Livermore. As a descendant of Mexican immigrants, she is a passionate advocate for immigrant rights. Marisa graduated from CSU East Bay in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Prior to joining Oasis, Marisa worked as an immigration paralegal at Social Justice Collaborative, where she prepared cases for asylum seekers in removal proceedings. She strongly believes in Oasis’ mission to provide quality legal immigration services for LGBTQIA+ immigrants and is proud to serve as their Residency and Naturalization Legal Advocate. In her free time, Marisa enjoys working out, reading, listening to music, meditating and drinking tea.
Marisa Lopez Arriola (she/her)
Residency & Naturalization Legal Advocate | DOJ Accredited Rep
Anabel Ontiveros is from the Bay Area, and they grew up in San Rafael. They identified as Genderqueer and grew up in a Mexican immigrant household. They received a Psychology degree with a Chicano Studies minor from Cal State Channel Islands. They collaborated with educators, mental health practitioners, and local filmmakers across the Bay Area to guide the next generation toward their educational, mental health, and creative goals. Anabel supported immigrant families in education by advocating for their children's right to access mental health resources, tutoring, and extracurricular activities. Oasis Legal Services's mission inspired Anabel to learn more about asylum law within the LGBTQ+ communities. They always wanted to work in a space where LGBTQ+ communities feel seen and safe to be themselves. Anabel embraces intersectionality within the immigrant community and loves collaborating with passionate people who work to create paths toward liberation. They are passionate about social justice, art, nature and spicy foods.
Anabel Ontiveros (they/she)
Client Support Coordinator
Maria Elena is a Bay Area native, Berkeley resident, and graduate of Berkeley High. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in psychology, and began working in legal immigration services at the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (EBSC). It was at EBSC that Maria discovered her passion for serving the LGBTQIA+ community, as an ally and advocate, and started EBSC’s LGBTQ/HIV Asylum Program in 2012, filing over 200 cases per year. Maria’s clients were her inspiration for co-founding Oasis in 2017, for becoming a Department of Justice Accredited Representative, and they continue to be her guiding light as she leads the organization’s Asylum Program. In her free time, Maria Elena enjoys spending time with her family and crafting.
Maria Elena Paniagua (she/her)
Asylum Program Director
Caroline was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil and came to the United States when she was eleven years old. She moved to the Bay Area when she was 18 for college and she has a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from UC Berkeley. She has wanted to work in immigration law since coming to the United States and experiencing first-hand the struggles of being an immigrant in America. Caroline interned for Oasis during her first year of law school and felt a strong connection to its mission and its clients and is now working with Oasis again after graduating law school.
Caroline Barros (she/her)
Law Clerk
Julia Mejia-Moreno was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley in a predominantly Immigrant farmworker community. She moved to the East Bay in 2014 to study at UC Berkeley, majoring in Latin American Studies and Anthropology. She has dedicated her career to service and community. As a Legal Advocate and DOJ Accredited Representative, she screens clients for Immigration relief, files asylum and work permit applications, and provides case management support. During her free time, Julia likes spending time with friends, exploring the Bay, going to concerts, watching animal or food docuseries, and enjoying a good cuddle with her roommates’ cats.
Julia Mejia-Moreno (she/her)
Asylum Legal Advocate |
DOJ Accredited Rep
Vasmer Vang (they/them pronouns) is a Hmong, queer, non-binary native of Fresno, CA. They “lawyerganize” (they coin this term as “incorporating community organizing with legal expertise”) to support and foster the growth of their hometown QTPOC grassroots organizations. They obtained a law degree at UC Law San Francisco and are working at the Oasis Fresno office to support LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers. For fun they karaoke, dance, cook Hmong family recipes, play RPG video/tabletop games, and shoot photos of their cat, Mai See!
Vasmer Vang (they/them)
Legal Fellow
Ari Jones was born and raised in Redwood City, CA and moved to the East Bay in college. Ari has dedicated their life to activism and service, first radicalized by Save Darfur and SB 1070 protests during their childhood. As a nonbinary and transgender queer person, they are committed to creating a more inclusive society using an antisubordination framework. Ari is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and UC Berkeley School of Law, and joined Oasis shortly after graduation as the Pride Law Fund, Tom Steel Fellow in 2018. At Oasis, Ari has expanded the milestone program, community outreach, and policy advocacy. They also developed the Residency and Naturalization programs to provide continuity of service to Oasis clients eligible to apply for their green cards and citizenship. Outside of work, Ari is a drag and makeup artist who enjoys hiking in local parks and caring for their elderly pets.
Ari Jones (they/them)
Residency & Naturalization Programs Director
Becca (she/her/ella) is a Staff Attorney at Oasis's Berkeley Office. She absolutely loves working with asylum seekers and other immigrants to help them find peace and security. Becca is a proud product of California's public schools, from kindergarten through university and law school. She graduated from UCLA in 2013, with a degree in International Development Studies. She then worked for many years at various non-profits organizations, where she discovered her passion for working with survivors of gender-related violence. Becca graduated from Berkeley Law in 2023, with a certificate in Public Interest and Social Justice. At Berkeley, she received highest pro bono honors, doing more than 200 hours of pro bono work. Becca lives in the East Bay with her spouse and perfect three-legged doggo, Rosie. She loves to hike, FaceTime her nieces, and read romance novels, the sillier the better. Habla español.
Becca Holt (she/her)
Staff Attorney
celia meredith (they/elle) was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. They studied Latin American Studies and sociology at Smith College, leading them to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Arica, Chile. After working on issues of food justice and access to benefits through AmeriCorps VISTA, celia pursued a joint JD-MA in Latin American Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. Before joining Oasis, they served as a staff law clerk at the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. When not practicing law, celia can be found deep in a book, cooking an extravagant meal, sewing or knitting something new for their wardrobe, or dancing tango.
celia meredith (they/elle)
Asylum Fellow
Social Services Program
Eric has been working with the Immigrant community for over 10 years, since returning from serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. He spent most of his career working with Unaccompanied Children who enter the U.S. without a parent, and seeing the strength of that population pushed him to get his MSW to be more equipped to support them. Eric recently relocated to the Bay Area after working at a humanitarian aid organization in Tijuana, Mexico from 2019-2023, where he supported a team that worked with thousands of asylum seekers in providing legal education, humanitarian assistance, and direct advocacy. His passion is the intersection of social work, immigration, education, and technology. In his free time Eric loves to sing, spend time with friends/family, get outside to beautiful places, and find joy in ridiculousness.
Eric Cline (he/él)
Social Services Program Director
Juana Echeveste-Davis is a So Cal native raised in the Central San Joaquin Valley. As a migrant child she is familiar with barriers to basic needs, such as healthcare and access to food. Juana joined the Oasis team in 2022 and connects clients to life-saving resources. She also builds community partnerships that foster holistic success for the immigrant community. Juana has dedicated her career to advocacy and helping people find their own strength within their struggles. She is a photographer, poet, and painter who utilizes her skills to advocate for social justice.
Juana Echeveste-Davis (she/ella)
Social Services Coordinator
Development
Activism and social justice were core family values in Caroline's childhood, leading her to begin organizing against the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Earning her B.A. and J.D. from U.C. Berkeley, Caroline knew her career would be in the service of refugees and she worked with organizations such as the East Bay Community Law Center, the Burmese Women's Union, and the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Before co-founding Oasis in 2017, Caroline created and ran the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant's program for Unaccompanied Minors, providing trauma-informed legal services for children who sought asylum in the United States alone. In her ten years working with asylum seekers Caroline has represented over 500 individuals. Apart from her passion for Oasis's work, Caroline loves craft projects, trip planning, pie baking, and spending time with her partner and son.
Caroline Kornfield Roberts (she/her)
Special Projects Director
Mateo Gael Sánchez Morales is a bilingual community organizer and storyteller passionate about fostering connections and community. They have dedicated their career to serving diverse populations as a legal advocate for LGBTQIA+ immigrants and a conflict resolution expert. Mateo's social justice lens is influenced by their trans identity and mixed-status background. They have advised various organizations, including the San Francisco International Airport’s DEI office, on how to make spaces more inclusive for transgender people. As Development and Grants Coordinator at Oasis, Mateo utilizes their experience in immigrant rights advocacy and storytelling to secure funding for LGBTQIA+ immigrants. In their free time, they volunteer as a translator and interpreter, write personal essays, and snuggle with their cat, Merlot.
Mateo G. Sánchez Morales (they/them)
Development & Grants Coordinator
Nina grew up in a multicultural household with both Japanese American and Peruvian immigrant roots in Clovis, California in the Central Valley. After moving to the Bay Area, she worked in a professional kitchen, which served to further establish her passion for immigrant rights and while finishing her Sociology degree at Mills College. Professionally, she has developed years of customer care experience in the healthcare sphere. She is now able to apply both her skills and passion to support Oasis. In her free time she loves to knit, bake, explore on her bike, and attend the occasional dance party.
Nina Suzuki (she/her)
Development & Donor Coordinator
Operations
Leanne Brotsky, born and raised in Berkeley, has provided in-person and remote operational and technology support to individuals and organizations for over a decade. As a social worker and organizer, Leanne collaborated extensively with Latin American migrants and, through that work, became a longtime admirer of Oasis and its impact on the community. She joined the organization in May 2022, and provides HR services, budgeting and financial tracking, and technology support to Oasis’s amazing team of advocates. When Leanne isn’t tinkering with a gadget or a spreadsheet, she is a lover of baseball, dogs, fantasy romance novels, and intersectional abolitionist movement building.
Leanne Brotsky (she/her)
Director of Operations