Lindsay Tocylowski

Co-Founder, President and CEO,
Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Lindsay Tocylowski is the co-founder, president and CEO of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, where she leads a team of over 200 advocates for immigrants’ rights who seek to change the US immigration system and serve tens of thousands of immigrants annually throughout Southern California. With over two decades of experience in immigrants’ rights work, Tocylowski continues to personally represent a small number of clients and frequently provides emergency legal services on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Previously, she provided legal representation and advocacy for thousands of immigrants and refugees while working with various nonprofit organizations in the US and abroad, including the Children’s Law Center of California. She first began her legal career as a USC Irmas Fellow with Asylum Access in Ecuador. Tocylowski, whose work was highlighted in Jacob Soboroff’s 2020 book “Separated,” has served on Asylum Access’s Board of Directors since 2017, appeared on MSNBC and CNN and been quoted in major publications including The New York Times and Washington Post. She has also been honored by the ACLU of Southern California, USC’s Latino Law Students Association and the Women’s Law Association, and was named one of California’s Top Lawyers Under 40 by the Daily Journal in 2019.