Attorney Arabelis Brito joins the firm as a Junior Associate. She concentrates her practice on  removal defense, family-based immigration, waivers, and affirmative asylum cases.  

Ms. Brito obtained her JD from Rutgers Law School in 2020. During her time at Rutgers, she  was an Immigrant Justice Fellow, participated in the school’s immigration clinic, interned at a  Camden-based immigration firm, and received the Mary Philbrook Award for her work in the  immigration field. Post law school, Ms. Brito clerked for a Superior Court Judge at the Camden County Superior Court in the civil and criminal divisions. She later worked at a boutique firm in  Cherry Hill for three years where she assisted with an array of practice areas including criminal,  municipal, employment, personal injury, real estate, and commercial litigation matters. 

Education  

University at Albany-SUNY, Bachelor of Arts, 2016  

Rutgers Law School, JD, 2020 

Admissions  

Pennsylvania Supreme Court  

My Immigration story  

I was born and raised in Washington Heights, a predominantly Dominican community in New York City. Washington Heights has long been a refuge for Dominican immigrants, offering a sense of familiarity and community in a foreign land. That’s exactly what it was for my grandmother who arrived from the Dominican Republic in 1974. She left her three children in the care of her sister, determined to find work and begin the arduous process of petitioning for their reunification. After four long years apart, my mother and her sisters obtained their green cards and in 1978 their journey to the United States began.  

Although my mom was saddened at the idea of leaving everything she knew behind, she was excited as to what the future had in store for her. However, the transition was not as seamless as she thought it would be. At 14, it was difficult for her to learn English and she was bullied for her accent. Over the years, she learned the language, became a US citizen, met my father, a Venezuelan immigrant who was fleeing the economic and political downfall of his country, and worked solely for the advancement of her children.  

Like many immigrant families, we faced challenges that required me to take on adult responsibilities at a young age: translating documents, making important phone calls, and navigating complex systems for my parents. But I was always eager to help, and those experiences sparked my desire to assist other families in similar situations. It was through these early experiences that I decided to pursue a career as an immigration attorney, a path that would not have been possible without the sacrifices my family made.

How to Contact Arabelis

Arabelis can be reached at 215-330-5244 or [email protected]