Amanda focuses her practice on removal defense, working directly with families who have been placed in removal proceedings and are facing deportation from the United States. She assists immigrants who have recently entered the United States, as well as those who have been in the United States for several years. Many of her clients are asylum seekers. Some of the work she does also involves reopening removal orders, applying for Cancellation of Removal and Adjustment of Status, as well as termination of proceedings.

Prior to joining Massa Viana, Amanda attended Roger Williams University School of Law (“RWUSOL”), where she focused on immigration practice, by participating in RWUSOL’s immigration clinic and taking electives that were related to immigration law. She also completed a summer internship at the Immigration Law Education and Advocacy Project (ILEAP), a sub-department of Catholic Social Services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she also worked on a class action lawsuit, in conjunction with the ACLU, to release detained immigrants from the Wyatt Detention center in Rhode Island.

In her last semester at RWUSOL, Amanda participated in the New York Pro Bono Scholars Program which allowed her to spend her last semester working full-time. ‘Her Justice,’ a non-profit focusing on the immigration needs of underserved women in New York City who are survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, and other crimes.

In 2018, Amanda graduated from Allegheny College with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies. While at Allegheny College, she spent a semester abroad in France, studying at the Universite Catholique de l’Ouest in Angers, France.

Amanda loves to travel and experience new cultures; she believes that by experiencing other cultures, we become less distant from one another and develop a deeper understanding of people. And that is reflected in the work she does daily at Massa Viana.

Education:
J.D. Roger Williams University School of Law (2021)
B.A. International Studies – Allegheny College (2018)

Admissions:
New York

Publications:
THE FULL SWEDE: Revising Rhode Island’s Prostitution Law to Decriminalize the Selling of Sex While Still Criminalizing the Buying of Sex, 25 ROGER WILLIAMS U. L. REV. 437 (2020).

Involvement:
Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association