Nicole T.S. Cortes
Nicole Cortes got her first glimpse into the St. Louis Latino community as an undergraduate, and in doing so, discovered that there weren’t many Spanish-speaking lawyers around.
Determined to add one more to the mix, Cortes earned not only a law degree from WashU but also a masters degree in social work. She also became fluent in Spanish. Then she co-founded (with fellow classmate Jessica Mayo) the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action (MICA) Project, a non profit organization whose mission is to respond to the needs of the greater St. Louis area immigrant population.
Cortes has devoted her career to providing local Latino immigrants the assistance they need, such as the Children’s Immigration Advocacy Program (CIAP) a new initiative providing trauma-informed, wrap-around support for immigrant children, including legal representation for court cases, reunification with family members, family court cases, and case management.
Cortes is part of the panel, “Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Crisis in U.S. Policy” on September 20, 2018.