The U.S. Immigration System in a Nutshell

Jennie Guilfoyle is the Legal Director at VECINA. Previously, she served as the Deputy Legal Director for the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Immigration Council.

Before joining the Council, Jennie spent four years as an Attorney Adviser at the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, focusing on issues such as citizenship and intercountry adoption. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Senior Training Attorney at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, where she designed and led in-person and online trainings on a variety of immigration law topics. She also worked at Church World Service, training refugee resettlement programs on immigration law and program management.

Jennie began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works fellow at the New York Association for New Americans, representing asylum and VAWA applicants. She currently resides in Washington, D

Kristen Nilsen is a Mentoring Attorney at VECINA. She joins VECINA from private practice, where she spent the past five years running a solo practice in northern California, helping clients navigate complex immigration laws.

Before that, Kristen worked as an immigration attorney for Refugee Women’s Alliance and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, providing low-cost legal assistance to refugees with naturalization, adjustment of status, family petitions, and consular processing. In these roles, she also trained and mentored new attorneys, law students, and accredited representatives in immigration law.

Kristen began her career as an Immigration Services Officer with USCIS before transitioning to work with refugees. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington.