MEET JESSICA
Jessica is fighting to build an America for all of us — no matter who we are, or where we come from.
MEET JESSICA
Jessica Cisneros is a proud Mexican-American immigration and human rights attorney running for Congress in Texas’ 28th district to fight for working families.
Jessica Cisneros is a proud Mexican-American immigration and human rights attorney running for Congress in Texas’ 28th district to fight for working families.
Jessica was born and raised in the border town of Laredo, Texas. When her older sister needed urgent medical care that was only available in the United States, her parents immigrated here to start a new home for the Cisneros family. Her dad picked fruit and started his own trucking company to make ends meet and ensure his two daughters could make it through high school.
As a child, Jessica saw firsthand that too many of the laws written miles away in Washington, D.C. weren’t written to protect people who looked like her.
She grew up watching her parents work hard and struggle to keep a small business afloat, and she’s seen her family and community continue to struggle with many of the same challenges today: lack of access to health care, too few job opportunities, and a broken immigration system.
Jessica was born and raised in the border town of Laredo, Texas. When her older sister needed urgent medical care that was only available in the United States, her parents immigrated here to start a new home for the Cisneros family. Her dad picked fruit and started his own trucking company to make ends meet and ensure his two daughters could make it through high school.
As a child, Jessica saw firsthand that too many of the laws written miles away in Washington, D.C. weren’t written to protect people who looked like her.
She grew up watching her parents work hard and struggle to keep a small business afloat, and she’s seen her family and community continue to struggle with many of the same challenges today: lack of access to health care, too few job opportunities, and a broken immigration system.
Jessica made a commitment at an early age to become an advocate for families like her own and protect the rights of immigrants and working people.
Jessica made a commitment at an early age to become an advocate for families like her own and protect the rights of immigrants and working people.
Jessica attended Dovalina Elementary and Christen Middle schools and excelled at Early College High School in Laredo, graduating as valedictorian. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, where she specialized in immigration law. For her leadership and commitment to keeping immigrant families safe and together, Jessica was awarded the Texas Law Fellowships Excellence in Public Interest Award, the Pro Bono Award, the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students’ Association’s Spirit of Community Award, and the Dean’s Achievement award for most outstanding student in the field of Immigration Law.
During her time in law school, Jessica served as a Pro Bono Scholar and worked with UT faculty to create the Women in Immigration Detention Assistance Project, which assisted asylum seekers at the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas, and she clerked at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in San Antonio, Texas.
After graduating, Jessica designed her own one-year fellowship at Brooklyn Defender Services with plans to learn from their first-in-the-nation public defender model for people in immigration court and bring it back to South Texas.
Jessica attended Dovalina Elementary and Christen Middle schools and excelled at Early College High School in Laredo, graduating as valedictorian. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, where she specialized in immigration law. For her leadership and commitment to keeping immigrant families safe and together, Jessica was awarded the Texas Law Fellowships Excellence in Public Interest Award, the Pro Bono Award, the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students’ Association’s Spirit of Community Award, and the Dean’s Achievement Award for most outstanding student in the field of Immigration Law.
During her time in law school, Jessica served as a Pro Bono Scholar and worked with UT faculty to create the Women in Immigration Detention Assistance Project, which assisted asylum seekers at the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas, and she clerked at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in San Antonio, Texas.
After graduating, Jessica designed her own one-year fellowship at Brooklyn Defender Services with plans to learn from their first-in-the-nation public defender model for people in immigration court and bring it back to South Texas.
Jessica’s vision to implement what she learned back in her community hit a road-block: Henry Cuellar. Many of the problems Jessica hoped to confront as an attorney were directly caused by the policies set by our leaders in Washington — including Congressman Cuellar who was doing very little to speak up for the needs and concerns of families in South Texas.
Jessica’s vision to implement what she learned back to her community hit a road-block: Henry Cuellar. Many of the problems Jessica hoped to confront as an attorney were directly caused by the policies set by our leaders in Washington — including Congressman Cuellar who was doing very little to speak up for the needs and concerns of families in South Texas.
In June 2019, with the support of her community, Jessica launched her campaign to challenge Rep. Cuellar, who is an anti-choice, anti-labor, pro-NRA Democrat who voted with Donald Trump and the Republicans almost 70% of the time in the last Congress. Since her first run in 2020, Jessica has kept fighting for South Texas as a human rights attorney helping detained families who couldn’t afford lawyers navigate our broken immigration system and organizing in Texas to help Democrats take back Congress and the White House.
About a month after the election, Jessica started working at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Asylum Defense Project in Laredo, Texas, answering the call to help immigrants and asylum seekers who were affected by Trump’s draconian Remain in Mexico policy.
She also worked on family detention cases, and worked with families who missed their immigration court hearings because they were kidnapped and helped assure them due process by getting their cases reopened with the immigration court. Jessica is the supervising attorney at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Educates and Legal Services (RAICES), where she helped establish the foundation for the public defender model for detained people facing proceedings in her hometown of Laredo.
In June 2019, with the support of her community, Jessica launched her campaign to challenge Rep. Cuellar, who is an anti-choice, anti-labor, pro-NRA Democrat who voted with Donald Trump and the Republicans almost 70% of the time in the last Congress. Since her first run in 2020, Jessica has kept fighting for South Texas as a human rights attorney helping detained families who couldn’t afford lawyers navigate our broken immigration system and organizing in Texas to help Democrats take back Congress and the White House.
About a month after the election, Jessica started working at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Asylum Defense Project in Laredo, Texas, answering the call to help immigrants and asylum seekers who were affected by Trump’s draconian Remain in Mexico policy.
She also worked on family detention cases, and worked with families who missed their immigration court hearings because they were kidnapped and helped assure them due process by getting their cases reopened with the immigration court.
Jessica is the supervising attorney at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Educates and Legal Services (RAICES), where she helped establish the foundation for the public defender model for detained people facing proceedings in her hometown of Laredo.
Over the past year, our community has suffered through a deadly freeze and a pandemic – waking up day after day praying we wouldn’t lose another family member or our jobs or the roof over our heads. It’s time for that to change. South Texas deserves a representative who’s going to fight for our dreams as hard as we do.
Over the past year, our community has suffered through a deadly freeze and a pandemic – waking up day after day praying we wouldn’t lose another family member or our jobs or the roof over our heads. It’s time for that to change. South Texas deserves a representative who’s going to fight for our dreams as hard as we do.