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Hello and Goodbye: Staff Changes at ILCM

Posted on Sep 14 2018

ILCM is excited to welcome five full-time staff members to our team this fall.  

Erin Schutte Wadzinski was born and raised in Worthington, Minnesota and works in ILCM’s Worthington office. Erin graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and earned her JD from UConn School of Law, where she graduated with Honors and certificates in Energy & Environmental Law and Human Rights. 

Prior to joining the ILCM team, Erin worked at the United Nations as a delegate for the Republic of Seychelles from 2010-2011, and from 2012-2018 at Yale University as director of the Yale Young Global Scholars Program. In her position at Yale, she led academic enrichment programs for nearly 2,000 high school students each year from around the world, and in 2014, she founded the Yale Young African Scholars Program in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.  

Erin applied to ILCM, “because of the organization’s presence in Greater Minnesota and in Worthington specifically.” She was attracted to ILCM’s “social impact mission to provide low-income immigrants and refugees across Minnesota with legal representation.” 

Erin also serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of Questbridge, an educational non-profit that promotes college access for high-achieving low-income students. Erin is proud to return to her hometown and to serve immigrants and refugees in the Worthington community. While at ILCM, she aspires “to make a positive contribution to Worthington and the surrounding area by providing assistance to immigrants and refugees who also call Southwest Minnesota their home.” 

Jess graduated from Hamline University School of Law in 2009. During law school she clerked at Centro Legal and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Her undergraduate degree was from the University of Minnesota in Global Studies with a minor in History. She has studied and lived in Spain, Panama, Cuba, and Costa Rica. 

Jess previously worked as a Staff Attorney at our office in Worthington, but as of mid-September joined the St. Paul team as Pro Bono Coordinator/Staff Attorney.  

 

Kerry McGuire graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2016. While in law school, she served as a student director in the Detainee Rights Clinic which provided removal defense for detained immigrants. Kerry graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 and worked in social services in an immigrant neighborhood of Chicago before attending law school.  

She was the recipient of an Equal Justice Works Fellowship sponsored by 3M and Fish & Richardson in 2016. The fellowship supported her work at ILCM and allowed her to do outreach in partnership with medical clinics outside of the Twin Cities.  

Although her fellowship ends this September, she is excited to continue working at ILCM on the ILCM Community Defense Team.  

Kristen Eiswerth joined ILCM as a Legal Assistant in August 2018 through Lutheran Volunteer Corps. Her work at ILCM will focus primarily on our New Beginnings Project and DACA Renewal. She graduated in 2018 from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota where she majored in Political Science and Spanish. She has studied in Argentina and Ecuador and is fluent in English and Spanish.  

Kristen became interested in the field of immigration, “because of how it intersects with issues of race, class, gender, language, and culture.” During her time at ILCM she aspires to “help people toward the stability they need in order to fully invest in themselves, their families and their communities in their own unique ways.”  

 

 

Mari Arneson joined ILCM as the Communications Associate in August 2018 through Lutheran Volunteer Corps. She graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 2018 with a degree in Political Science and German. Mari lived and studied in Flensburg, Germany for two years, and in January 2018 she completed an internship at the Flensburg refugee help center, Flüchtlingshilfe Flensburg.  

During her time at Flüchtlingshilfe Flensburg, some her responsibilities included: helping refugees file asylum and immigration petitions, registering families for governmental social services, and assisting clients in their search for employment and living accommodations. This internship inspired her interest in immigration and refugee work and lead her to apply to ILCM.  

Mari was attracted to the ILCM mission and values, most specifically: “We value relationships with the communities we serve and seek to express their full potential and contributions through our work together.” She looks forward to “working with ILCM and the Twin Cities community toward social justice for immigrants and refugees.”  

And one farewell:

Gail Martinson joined ILCM in 2012 after graduating from Inver Hills Community College in the Post-Graduate Paralegal Program.  At ILCM, Gail provided representation to Dreamers in applying for consideration for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. She filed over 1,600 DACA cases during her time with us. Click here for more information about her work at ILCM. Gail will be greatly missed, but we wish her the best and look forward to hearing from her often. We know she will continue to shine wherever she goes.