We ❤ Milli Atkinson, Director of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative

Keeping abreast of the news in the United States over the past eight months has become a horror show, with haunting reports about human beings being mistreated. Many leading stories have originated in and around San Francisco’s Immigration Court, from where individuals—adults and children, with no criminal records—have been arrested at their court appearances by aggressive and overzealous U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Asylum seekers, denied their due process and human rights, have been detained, and frequently transported to undisclosed locations, with no access to legal representation. “Nationally, this is a tactic of this administration,” said Claudia Quintana, Staff Attorney, Justice and Diversity Center’s (JDC) Pro Bono Legal Services, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Project (SIJS), “a strategy to deprive people of their access to court where they would be able to prove they are eligible (for asylum and permanent residence).”

While protesters have rallied to uphold the rule of law, and even used their bodies to hinder what they see as illegal removals of immigrants, a band of heroes known as the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC) has dedicated themselves to advocating for and providing services and legal representation to the Bay Area’s immigrant population. And one extraordinary woman, Milli Atkinson, has emerged as their “fearless leader.”

Described as extremely intelligent, highly organized, empathetic, compassionate, and indefatigable, Atkinson is Director of the SFILDC, of which the JDC is one of its 16 member organizations. “But she doesn’t gravitate to the limelight,” said Rich Whipple, Deputy Director the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), City and County of San Francisco. “She’s a behind-the-scenes badass and a workhorse. While others are holding banners—and she does the advocacy piece too—she’s handling business.”

Who is this Milli Atkinson? From where does she get her strength? What keeps her in this fight? For answers, we talked to several of the heroes who serve alongside her.

A Brilliant Legal Mind

Some have known her for more than a decade, while they trained and prepared for this unprecedented time in our history. “She’s super-smart, and we benefit from her deep knowledge of the law,” said Moira Duvernay, Deputy Director at Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at UC College of Law, San Francisco (CGRS), a founding member and longtime participant in the collaborative. Atkinson’s attributes include, she said, “a moral compass pointed in the right direction.”

A twist of fate led Atkinson to this area of practice. “I grew up in a small rural community with a significant migrant and bilingual population,” she said. “They were our friends, our neighbors.” Her family also has a long history of providing services to people in need; one grandmother worked for a nonprofit, one sister is a teacher. She earned her undergraduate degree in accounting and headed to law school to become a tax attorney, as a means to help members of her community. But then she took a class in immigration law and changed her focus.

Fresh out of law school, Atkinson worked with victims of domestic violence and trafficking, often helping to secure U visas and T visas. She gained court experience as she learned more about the unbalanced, nonneutral system that is immigration defense law. “Vulnerable people are not given a fair chance,” she said. “I asked myself ‘How can I use my law degree and experience to help people?’” Her current day job is Director of JDC’s Immigrant Legal Defense Program.

Elizabeth Young, who is part of Emeriti Law, a nationwide network of former immigration judges providing immigration law counsel, first met Atkinson when Young served as a Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge in the Western Region of the U.S., covering juvenile dockets. “She was really good about meeting with juveniles and getting to the core of what was needed,” said Young. “She helped them understand the process, find the resources, and present, in an efficient manner, what they needed in court.”

Lariza Dugan-Cuadra has been working with Atkinson for over a decade and calls out her abilities to “sift through a lot of information and summarize the most critical elements, and synthesize and communicate the complexities of the current immigration policy and legal services landscape to key stakeholders who want to support the work and impact the communities.” Dugan-Cuadra is Executive Director of Central American Resource Center (CARECEN SF), which provides social services, advocacy, and removal defense for 3,000 to 3,500 undocumented immigrants each year, and serves as the fiscal lead for the SFILDC.

A Fearless Leader of the Collaborative

The 16 members of the collaborative meet monthly, with Atkinson at the helm. “She’s brilliant,” said Whipple. “She holds up legal strategy, brings people together, and navigates city politics—which is no small feat.”

“It’s like herding cats. There are huge personalities, attorneys and directors, major players in human rights in San Francisco, so there are potentially a lot of egos at stake,” said Professor Bill Hing, Founding Director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at University of San Francisco. And “everyone respects her because she’s organized, to the point, down to business, no time wasted.”

“She’s like the grand master of the opera,” said Dugan-Cuadra, who sees Atkinson in action every day. “Everyone is great on their own instrument, and she makes it all work together. She leverages each group’s strength.” It’s a well-oiled machine, one that runs on Atkinson’s experience, skills, and mental database of resources. “She’s very talented at coordinating any project and coming up with solutions to problems,” said Malvina De La Canal, Supervising Attorney of JDC’s Attorney of the Day (AOD) program, which manages about 160 AODs for in-court and remote consultations. “She knows the resources we have access to, and she leads others in utilizing those resources.”

“I’ve seen Milli’s leadership grow,” said Whipple. At a recent press event, he was impressed with the strength of her voice and her clarity in addressing the reality of the moment. “She called leaders together, she galvanized our immigrant community,” he said.

“She’s unflappable,” said Emberly Cross, Coordinating Attorney at Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic (CROC). Cross recalled Atkinson’s sharing a recent experience sitting with a client in immigration court, not knowing if he’d be detained on the way out. As the client rocked back and forth, praying, Atkinson focused on her next steps, which included getting contact information for his family, to notify them. “Even in the midst of things getting worse and worse, she has a plan.” said Cross. “She’s always ready for what’s coming next.”

“She doesn’t give up,” said Professor Hing. “Tenacious—that’s Milli.”

A Fun, Creative, and Inspiring Role Model

Tenacious, tireless, extremely dedicated, and “she’s a joy,” said Dugan-Cuadra. Duvernay describes SFILDC meetings that begin with in-depth conversations about legal challenges, followed by creative, “fun, but not silly,” morale-boosting activities related to their work. As a result, tensions are released and close working and personal relationships are formed. “She puts a lot of thought and care into the space she’s created for us to collaborate effectively,” said Duvernay.

This left-plus-right brain ability lends to her gift for creative problem-solving. “She has boundless energy,” De La Canal said. “She’s not afraid to push the envelope with new ideas and new projects—sometimes she’ll rattle off a bunch.” One of those ideas, the Court Observation Project, launched in May 2025. Volunteers are trained on how to observe the court docket, gather information, and keep an eye out for ICE removal officers, so that an attorney is on call to represent someone who is arrested upon exiting the courtroom.

“She’s great at multitasking, on top of several different projects and grant requests at one time, while pretty much on-call for San Francisco Rapid Response alerts, seven days a week,” said De La Canal. Young also called out Atkinson’s abilities to work with and advocate for clients while also presenting to the court what it needs to conduct business.

“Milli has a gift. She can take any complex situation and describe to it you, so it stops feeling hopeless,” said Cross. She referred to a group trip to Tijuana in 2022 during which Atkinson trained, mentored, and supervised members of the SFILDC team in educating migrants about their rights and assisting local organizations in their efforts. “She makes it feel possible—possible that one person can jump in and make a difference in the world.”

“Milli strides in there, fearless. She’s not one to sit around wringing her hands,” said Quintana. “She’s a roll-up-her sleeves, get-to-it kind of person,” said Dugan-Cuadra. She’s warm and on point and informative—all the time. That’s Milli’s spirit.”

A Guiding Light

“We’re living in strange, strange times, that’s for sure,” said Quintana. Fortunately, we have Atkinson and her cohorts to lead us through to better days.

When asked what her superpower might be, Atkinson replied with a laugh, “Karaoke!” Then, after a moment’s thought, she said, “I’m incredibly stubborn, and I have a strong sense of justice.”

Duvernay suggested Atkinson’s superpower is her ability to get people on board. “Not aggressively, but leading by example. It’s clear to all of us she’s working hard and she’s inviting us to come along.” Atkinson is quick to share the credit. “I build coalitions and systems, and I’m not doing it alone,” she said. “It helps knowing other people are in the fight who care about doing the critical work as much as I do.”