The Legal Aid Society is the nation’s largest public defense and civil legal services provider. The largest law firm in New York City is home to over 2000 attorneys, paralegals, social workers, investigators, and more. Each brings their unique perspective to the fight for justice in every borough.

What inspired you to work at Legal Aid?
I started at Legal Aid as an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow in 2016 and was drawn to Legal Aid’s long trajectory in providing holistic legal services. The opportunity to collaborate across several practice areas in client representation has been a highlight of my time at LAS and significantly raises the caliber of our representation.

What’s a recent project or piece of work you’re proud of, and why?
This past October my colleagues and I secured the immediate release of a client, J.G.O., who had been held unlawfully for more than eight months in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

J.G.O.’s disturbing saga in detention began with him being swept up in an immigration raid to his residential building without explanation for his detention. Then, in March 2025, without giving him any reason, the government put him on a plane bound for a notorious prison in El Salvador known for its tortuous conditions. He was only narrowly spared by an emergency lawsuit filed by the ACLU—taken off the plane shortly before takeoff in shackles with tears of terror streaming down his face.

The government continually moved the goal posts as J.G.O. pursued every possible available avenue for release – applying an automatic stay to an immigration judge’s grant of bond, then applying a another automatic stay to a favorable decision on appeal, and ultimately asserting a new interpretation of a statute that upended decades of agency practice.

Our office filed a habeas petition challenging J.G.O.’s detention, and Judge Subramanian at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered J.G.O.’s immediate release, including language strongly rebuking the government’s treatment of J.G.O., stating: “[B]ased on a series of shifting rationales, [J.G.O.’s] release was repeatedly withheld. That ends here. The Court GRANTS the petition and orders J.G.O.’s release …” Judge Subramanian’s careful statutory interpretation in J.G.O.’s decision has been cited in dozens of other habeas-related decisions in courts across the country.

Even with all J.G.O. endured, his resilience has been unwavering. While detained, he dedicated time to drawings using colored pencils. His drawings depicted his much-desired liberation and the support of the members of his legal team, including Kas Shealy, Marion Koshy, and I. In the late nights of legal briefing involved in pursuing habeas relief, I often drew inspiration from J.G.O.’s illustration, longing for justice to be done.

The morning following J.G.O.’s release, he shared that as he stepped outside the house and into the sunlight, he collapsed to the ground weeping. Feeling the sunlight hit his facet that hour of day when he otherwise would have been locked in a jail cell, overwhelmed him. Seeing this, J.G.O.’s good friend became alarmed wondering if J.G.O. was alright, but J.G.O. just responded that he was grateful to be free and he wanted to spend this new day walking for as long as possible through the neighborhoods of the city. Now, J.G.O. has resettled back into the community and has started a professional training course to become a home health aide, and he continues to dream about a brighter future.

J.G.O.’s drawing, now hung up in my office, continually reminds me of the ongoing need and longed-for liberation in this time of unprecedented mass incarceration in immigration detention facilities.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Witnessing, through the accounts of our clients, the dehumanizing conditions in immigration detention facilities and battling for accountability.

What’s something about your work that most people misunderstand?
I think sometimes people feel helpless to contribute to the work of pursuing immigrant justice if they are not directly involved in lawsuits or legal battles. However, much-needed advocacy goes beyond these legal battles. It includes online submissions of individual comments about immigration-related proposed regulations, volunteering as court observers, contacting lawmakers regarding immigration enforcement-related funding bills, and singing songs of liberation in our streets. All of this (and more) contributes and supports the work we do each day.

What is the impact of your work on the lives of New Yorkers?
The work of myself and other attorneys in the Immigration Law Unit’s federal practice seeks the release of New Yorkers detained by ICE. This sometimes involves advocating to bring New Yorkers back after being transferred to far-flung detention facilities across the country. This effort seeks to the preserve the social fabric of our communities and families in the city.

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Natalie Maust is an Attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit in the Federal Practice.