FORMER TEAM MEMBERS 

Anabel Martinez, Esq.

Senior Policy Counsel

Anabel Martinez (she/her) is a Senior Policy Counsel for the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative (“SJI”) where she provides support in the development of local, state, and national anti-trafficking policy strategies, which promote survivor informed and evidence-based public health and community-based alternatives to the dominant approach of using incarceration as a solution to human trafficking which often re-traumatizes survivors, especially survivors with their own criminality. Before joining SJI, Anabel was an attorney with the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (“LIJC”) where she provided immigration legal services to low-income immigrant community members of the Los Angeles County area. Previously, Anabel worked as a Victims’ Rights Staff Attorney for the Legal Advocacy Project for Survivors at the Los Angeles LGBT Center where she provided trauma informed, client-centered, and affirming holistic legal services to LGBTQI+ survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, hate violence, stalking, and other crimes. Anabel also worked as an attorney at the Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc, where she represented parents in juvenile dependency proceedings. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles where she graduated with a concentration in Public Interest Law and received her undergraduate degree, with a major in psychology and a minor in education, from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.

 

 

Joseph Villela

State Policy Director

Joseph has dedicated his career to effecting policy change through direct engagement with recent immigrants and other impact communities throughout California. A committed government relations professional and political adviser, Joseph has more than fifteen years of experience in monitoring and analyzing legislation. During that time, Joseph also established a successful track record in developing and managing legislative and budgetary campaigns, helping to improve the lives of California's most vulnerable. Villela comes into the Director of State Policy role at Loyola Law School with a demonstrated ability to truly listen to the stories of those most impacted and advance policy that delivers meaningful impact to their communities.

Joseph also has deep knowledge of the political and policy trends that are being discussed in California’s State Capitol, including economic and budget outlook. Policy expertise include immigration policy (access to public benefits, public charge, immigrant integration, border issues, and worker’s rights), criminal justice and nexus to immigration consequences and impact on survivors of human trafficking.

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Sabrina Talukder,  Esq.

Federal Policy Director

Sabrina Talukder is the Federal Policy Director and comes to SJI with a decade of professional experience directly representing non-citizen human trafficking survivors with complex criminal and immigration histories. Sabrina began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, identifying and representing non-citizen survivors who were incarcerated at Riker’s Correctional Facility. Afterwards, she worked at The Exploitation Intervention Project at The Legal Aid Society as an immigration specialist, representing non-citizen trafficking survivors upon criminal and civil arrest in their criminal and immigration proceedings. Sabrina graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies, The London School of Economics and Political Science with an M.A. in NGOs and Development, and obtained her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. 

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