Ms. Susan E Reed

(CLN/MI-01)
Kalamazoo, Michigan
United States

Focus Areas

Community & Civic Engagement
Advocacy
Economic Security
Poverty
Racial Equity & Healing
Latino / Hispanic Communities
Social Justice
Civil Rights
Gender-Based Violence
Immigration & Border Issues

Biography

Susan is an established leader who drew on her experience as an immigrant rights attorney to co-found the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in 2009. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center is a legal resource center for advocates seeking equal justice for Michigan’s immigrants, with a particular focus on children and families. Susan has practiced immigration and immigrant rights law since 2003. Susan has also served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and as a regional attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her particular interests include the intersection of family and immigration law, the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant eligibility for public benefits and programs, and civil rights. Susan is Secretary of the Steering Committee for the Michigan Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (MCIRR) and co-chairs the Advocacy Committee of the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She has served as an advisor to several State Bar of Michigan committees and initiatives. Her research and commentary has been published in Clearinghouse Review among other publications. Susan is fluent in Spanish. In 2013, Susan was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the Foreign Language Board of Review and serves as a committee member of the Court's Limited English Proficiency Implementation Advisory Committee. Susan is also a member of the Detroit City Council Immigration Task Force. Susan is a graduate of Marquette University and the University of Minnesota Law School.