Maria Arrine, Esq.

Legal director

Maria was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States at the age of three. Growing up in a community of immigrants and having gone through the naturalization process herself, Maria is especially sympathetic to the challenges many immigrant communities face and is passionate about assisting immigrants navigate a complicated immigration system.

Maria joined AAN as their first staff attorney in May of 2017 and established AAN’s removal defense practice. She works with the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC) to represent clients in removal proceedings before the San Francisco Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). She handles both detained and non-detained cases as well as BIA appeals. As a supervising attorney at AAN, Maria manages a team of attorneys, DOJ accredited representatives, and legal assistants.

Prior to joining AAN, Maria worked as an associate attorney for a private firm in San Francisco where she represented clients in asylum hearings, bond hearings, handled U-Visa applications, I-751 Battered Spouse Waivers (VAWA) applications, 601-A Provisional Waivers, I-130/I-485 Adjustment of Status Applications, N-400 Naturalization Applications, and Affirmative Asylum Applications.

In 2010, Maria received a BA in History, with a concentration in African American Studies, from the University of Michigan. In 2014, she received a J.D. from Wayne State University.

While in law school, Maria was a student attorney at The Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic where she defended immigrants facing deportation. She also served as a board member at the Free Legal Aid Clinic where she provided family law services to Detroit’s indigent community. Maria was a semi-finalist for her schools moot court team and the recipient of a pro bono certification in her second year of law school. She spent a semester as a peer mediation teacher, teaching law to high school students in inner city Detroit. Maria has a particular interest in the issues plaguing the African immigrant community due to the time she spent living in Tanzania, where she studied modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

Maria is a member of the state bar of Michigan. She is fluent in Urdu/Hindi and can read and write Arabic.