Susan Henner, Safe Passage Project Attorney of the Week

Safe Passage, September 16, 2013


Safe Passage Attorney of the Week, SUSAN HENNER

“It has been rewarding and heartbreaking and frustrating all at once!  I love finishing up a case successfully or helping or placing a case with the right lawyer!   It is heartbreaking to hear what conditions some of the children have endured to come to our country.  Some literally have walked here through mountains and deserts and horrid conditions in order to join their families or to escape poverty and abuse or neglect in their home countries. It is devastating when you can’t help them.” -Susan Henner, Esq.

 Susan Henner is a New York Law School alum who has been practicing immigration for nearly twenty years.  Henner runs her own small immigration firm in White Plains, NY which she started in 2001.  Henner’s firm provides a wide range of immigration services, from business immigration, to family-based benefits, and deportation defense.  Henner loves practicing immigration law and says that her favorite part about her job is helping people and bringing families together.

After graduating from New York Law School in 1994, Henner worked at a small immigration firm in DC under the former Commissioner of INA, Mario Noto.   Before opening up her own practice, Henner worked for firms both small and large which, she says, thoroughly prepared her to be ready for any immigration issue a client may have.

Aside from running her own practice (where this week alone she will be seeking to obtain bond hearings for two detained clients, file an H-3 petition and H1-B extension, and represent a client at an individual Cancellation of Removal hearing) Henner is also a mom of two boys, 3 and 9, active in the PTA, co-chair of the Westchester County Bar Association’s Immigration Committee, and of course, volunteers as pro bono counsel with the Safe Passage Project.

Henner was thrilled to join the project after volunteering with AILA’s SIJS project.  Henner has had a long standing relationship with Professor Lenni Benson, often visiting her immigration classes to discuss asylum and VAWA, among other issues.

Her favorite part about the Safe Passage Project is the children.  She explains, “I love seeing their hopeful and smiling faces each month. I love being able to assure them that we will try to help them and we will explain the complex process to them.”  She also enjoys working with the law students, watching them grow professionally throughout the school year into, what she calls, wonderfully competent immigration lawyers.

Although Henner acknowledges the difficulty of certain cases, she has never been discouraged, continuing to be a zealous advocate for her clients.  Her continued dedication to the project and her work is admirable and a great example for all aspiring immigration attorneys.

***Safe Passage Feature written by 3rd year New York Law Student and Safe Passage Advocate Vanessa Caicedo.