Susan J Cohen

Meet Susan J. Cohen

Susan is an acclaimed immigration attorney with a long track record of successful outcomes for her clients, whether through filing immigration petitions and applications on their behalf or, if necessary, through litigating their cases in the federal courts to achieve justice on their behalf. Susan is a national thought leader on U.S. immigration law and policy. She has directly impacted the content and wording of immigration regulations issued both by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (and its predecessor agency, the “INS”), and the Department of Labor (“DOL”) through liaison with these agencies, and through her opinion pieces in the national media.

Dovetailing with her work in this arena, Susan is extremely passionate about her pro bono work to support and defend immigrants fleeing persecution and those who have been marginalized or injured by our inadequate, broken, and often misguided immigration laws and policies. The most profound and meaningful work of Susan’s legal career has been saving clients from deportation to countries where they would be killed for expressing their support for democracy, for marching peacefully in protest of a corrupt government, for resisting gang conscription, for practicing their religion, or because of their sexual orientation.

“It is such an honor for me to represent my asylum clients,” says Cohen. “So many of them are heroes—and in trusting me with their personal stories of inspiring bravery in the face of unspeakable hardships and atrocities, they have given far more to me than I have ever given to them.”

Susan works tirelessly to ensure that the United States remains a country that adheres to the rule of law, where judges are appointed based on their qualifications rather than their political inclinations, and are free to rule based on what the law, rather than politics, requires. Susan is committed to fighting to make sure the United States’ immigration laws and policies reflect a well-rounded immigration program that welcomes individuals and families, skilled and unskilled members of the U.S. workforce, refugees, asylum seekers, and others who are temporarily displaced due to humanitarian crises in their countries. She also believes in the need for immigration reform to modernize our immigration laws and provide a viable pathway to a permanent status for Dreamers and the millions of undocumented immigrants who demonstrate their ties to the U.S. and their contributions to the United States.