ALBERT ARMENDARIZ, Jr.,  is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, class of 1970.  Mr. Armendariz has maintained a private law practice in El Paso, Texas for 42 years, and has practiced extensively in the area of federal immigration law, with emphasis on immigration through family relationships, deportation defense, naturalization, acquired and derivative U.S. citizenship, and federal court litigation. He is a principal of Albert Armendariz, Jr., Attorney at Law, PC, which is a partner in the Law Offices of Armendariz & Holguin. He has spoken frequently at seminars and conferences on federal immigration law topics, including at the State Bar of Texas’ annual meeting and the University of Texas School of Law’s Annual Conference on Immigration & Nationality Law. He is a Past President of the Mexican-American Bar Association of El Paso and the El Paso Association of Immigration Practitioners.  He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), El Paso Bar Association, Mexican-American Bar Association of El Paso, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. He is a former chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project of the Texas Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which was based in San Antonio.  In 2009, Mr. Armendariz was the first recipient of the Albert Armendariz, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mexican-American Bar Association of El Paso, and in 2011 he was the recipient of the El Paso Young Lawyers Association’s Outstanding Senior Lawyer 2010-2011 award.

ILIANA HOLGUIN  is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. She is the principal of Iliana Holguin, Attorney at Law, PC, which is a partner in the Law Offices of Armendariz & Holguin in El Paso, TX.  She previously served as the Executive Director of Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services (“DMRS”), the largest provider of free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees and their families in El Paso, West Texas and Southern New Mexico.  Under her leadership, DMRS received local and national recognition, including the El Paso Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award, the Bishop of El Paso’s Option for the Poor Award, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild Daniel Levy Award.  She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas.  Mrs. Holguin served two terms on the State Bar of Texas Committee on Laws Relating to Immigration and Nationality, is a member of the U.S./Mexico Border and Immigration Task Force, serves as the local American Immigration Lawyers Association liaison to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and previously served on the national American Immigration Lawyers Association Pro Bono Service Committee and Religious Worker Committee.  She was previously a member of the Ethics Review Commission for the City of El Paso and also previously served three terms as the President of the Board of Directors of the Political Asylum Project of Austin (PAPA), one of the largest providers of free and low-cost legal services to low-income immigrants in central Texas.  Mrs. Holguin frequently donates her time to speaking on immigration-related issues to the immigrant community, law enforcement officials, and other social service agencies.  Mrs. Holguin is also a frequent presenter at immigration and nationality law conferences, including the State Bar of Texas Immigration and Nationality Law conference, the University of Texas Immigration Law Conference, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild Immigration Seminar and Skills Workshop, the El Paso Bar Association Skills Seminar, the El Paso Federal Bar Association, and the El Paso Criminal Law Group.  Mrs. Holguin has received various honors for her work, including the Mexican-American Bar Association’s Outstanding Member award.