Wasatch Immigration Project hires first full-time, bilingual attorney

PARK CITY, Utah — The Wasatch Immigration Project has hired its first full-time staff attorney, marking a significant milestone in the nonprofit’s efforts to expand access to legal services for individuals navigating the immigration system in the Wasatch Back and surrounding areas.

Laura Rojas, a Park City resident with more than a decade of legal experience, officially joined the organization after volunteering with the nonprofit. Her hire follows a year of surging demand for immigration legal services that outpaced the capacity of WIP’s four part-time volunteer attorneys.

Founded in 2023, the Wasatch Immigration Project (WIP) provides pro bono and low bono legal services for immigrants, including asylum seekers, survivors of domestic violence, and unaccompanied minors.

In 2024 alone, WIP attorneys represented 147 clients and filed 195 immigration applications. Between June and December, the firm received 240 consultation requests and conducted 92 consults, many of which led to multiple active cases. A growing waitlist of over 100 individuals prompted the nonprofit to pause new consultations several times due to capacity limits.

“With generous support from community members and grants from the Utah Bar Foundation and Park City Community Foundation, WIP was able to post a staff attorney opening early this year and conducted interviews in January and February,” said Maggie AbuHaidar, WIP executive director and one of the group’s founding attorneys. “We were lucky to receive a number of applications from highly qualified, passionate attorneys. Ultimately, we agreed that Laura was not only a highly qualified, bilingual attorney, but would be the best match with the culture we are building and the community we serve.”

Rojas began her career as a foster care case manager in Detroit and Miami before earning a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She then served over a decade as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade County, representing clients with immigration considerations and advising them on the intersection of criminal and immigration law. She and her family have lived in Park City for nearly 10 years.

“I am honored to begin work as a full-time attorney at WIP,” Rojas said. “I appreciate the opportunity to provide our clients with the dignity of a conversation and honest, thoughtful legal advice.”

In addition to expanding its legal team, WIP also announced the addition of four new members to its board of directors. The new board members include Patter Birsic, co-founder of the National Pancreas Foundation; J. Enrique Sanchez, Intermountain state director for the American Business Immigration Coalition; Joana Saucedo Mandragon, a community health case manager at The People’s Health Clinic; and Diego Zegarra, vice president of equity and impact at Park City Community Foundation.

“We’re thrilled to have their passion and expertise supporting our mission,” said WIP board chair John Sharkey.

More information about the Wasatch Immigration Project is available at wasatchimmigrationproject.org.