Lilah Thompson will serve as a Stoneleigh Fellow with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. In this role, she will develop a dedicated Immigration Legal Unit that will represent non-citizens in immigration proceedings and collaborate with system partners to advance policies that reduce criminalization, prevent detention and removal, and facilitate pathways toward legal residency for immigrants.
Previously, Lilah worked at Nationalities Service Center (NSC) as the Supervising Attorney of the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project (PAIFUP), the state’s first publicly funded defense counsel project for non-citizens in immigration detention. In this role, she represented clients pro bono in removal and bond proceedings before the Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals, and managed PAIFUP’s operations. Lilah also worked closely with community partners and attorneys throughout Pennsylvania and the U.S. toward the mission of providing universal representation to all non-citizens who are unable to afford counsel, and in support of a more just immigration system that reflects the needs and lived experiences of those experiencing deportation and detention.
Prior to joining NSC, Lilah worked at the U.S. Department of Justice as an Attorney Advisor at the New York and Philadelphia Immigration Courts through the DOJ Honors Program. She also held roles at various nonprofit immigration legal services organizations and private immigration firms. Since 2020, she has served as the Chair of the Executive Office for Immigration Review Liaison Committee for the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Lilah holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish from Franklin & Marshall College and a JD from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
