“THE CHALLENGING MOMENTS REMINDED ME WHY I WAS PRACTICING IMMIGRATION LAW.

Yunuen Mora

Yunuen also spent some time abroad when she studied in Spain.

Yunuen took more law courses to open her mind to what it contained. Once she finished her classes abroad, she obtained assistant law jobs, pushing her to study and take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). She got accepted into the California Western School of Law, based in San Diego, California.

During her time in law school, Yunuen volunteered at local San Diego non-profits such as the Employee Rights Center, which provides legal services regarding employment and labor laws, and Casa Cornelia Law Center, assisting in the representation of indigent asylum seekers.

Yunuen passed the California Bar examination and obtained her first job as a lawyer with a former law professor. She also worked at the American Bar Association Immigration Justice Project, representing indigent clients suffering from mental illness during removal proceedings held before an immigration judge to determine whether the individual is to remain in the United States.

In 2018, Yunuen opened her own law practice, Cross Border Lawyer, where she has offices in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.

Yunuen works closely with the San Diego Mexican consulate as a consultant. Yunuen is also a member of the Association of Mother Immigration Attorneys (AMIGA).

Not only is she a lawyer, but she is also a mother to an amazing little girl named Julia, 5. When I interviewed Julia, I asked her if she knew what her mother did for work, and her response was, “my mom helps people.”

I asked Yunuen what the difficult part of being an immigration lawyer was: “Getting emotionally invested and separating those emotions.”

Yunuen’s assistant Bianca Lopez said, “the emotions when working with the clients are hard to separate.”

Yunuen said being an immigration lawyer when President Trump was in office was awful and she wanted to quit.

Yunuen said that almost every Friday while President Trump was in office, he would change certain rules or forms that needed to be filled out. Things were always changing, and it was making it difficult to keep track of all the details.

Her simple cases became hard cases with these never-ending modifications. There was, however, a positive outcome in the migrant community when President Trump was in office: everyone rallied for this community and were willing to help.

“The challenging moments reminded me why I was practicing immigration law,” said Yunuen.

Photo contributed by Yunuen Mora Yunuen Mora opened her own law practice, Cross Border Lawyer, in 2018, with offices located in San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.