Founder; Managing Attorney & Advocacy Director

syore@lia-michigan.org

In 2008, Sarah completed her undergraduate studies at Calvin College. During her time there, she studied abroad, volunteered in Grand Rapids schools, tutored adults in GED programs, and worked with immigrant mothers at Cherry Street Medical Clinic, all the time putting to good use her Spanish language fluency and social work training. Sarah attended the Michigan State University College of Law, devoting herself to the study of immigration and public interest law. Following law school, Sarah, her husband, and young daughter moved to Mexico for a year where her husband completed his doctoral research.

In the fall of 2013, Sarah started work at the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Immigration Legal Services, serving as one of two full-time attorneys. She tackled a wide variety of family-based immigration cases and grew accustomed to handling a high volume caseload while still offering high-quality legal services. Sarah left the Diocese of Grand Rapids in December 2014 to work at a private firm, but soon discovered for-profit legal services were not what Holland immigrants needed. And so, she pioneered Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates.

Sarah also serves as the vice chair of the Immigration Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and sits on the board of Out on the Lakeshore. When she's not working, Sarah gardens inside and outside, reads voraciously, hikes and backpacks, and paints botanical watercolors and acrylics (come see her mural at LIA's Holland office!).

Program Director

maggie@lia-michigan.org

Maggie has always had a passion for diversity, language, and culture, graduating in 2006 from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish. She went on to work in the interpretation and translation field, coordinating interpreters to provide linguistic services for a variety of industries. She later moved on to recruiting interpreters in the US, UK, and all across The Americas for both common and rare languages based on the ever-changing needs of government services, immigration systems, school districts, hospitals, utility companies, and emergency services.

After leaving the industry to stay home with her three children, she also took on the challenging and rewarding role of becoming a foster parent for refugee children. In addition to her three biological children, she has ten “bonus lovies” who know her as Mamá Maggie, who have since been reunited with their biological families. LIA was her springboard to jump back into the working world, going from Volunteer, to Executive Assistant, to Human Resources Coordinator, and landing now as the Program Director since spring of 2023. She shares the load of leading LIA as one of three Co-Directors, replacing the traditional Executive Director structure to better allow for collaboration, shared executive duties, and to prevent the ever-prevalence of burnout in the non-profit field.

Known as the office’s “Queen of Organization”, you’ll find her streamlining as much as she can, helping to balance workloads, communication, and expanding on LIA’s welcoming atmosphere. Maggie has a deep love for social justice, and continues to focus on viewing the world through a trauma-informed lens. She is generally a crafty lady, and can create just about anything with yarn and a crochet hook. Her favorite evening plans are curling up on the couch with her husband while crocheting her latest project.husband while crocheting her latest project.

Advancement Director

dlee@lia-michigan.org

David is driven to build a community that grows more just, equitable, and open to opportunity, which can best foster others who are living within the uniquely multi-cultural experiment that is the United States.

Born in South Korea, David immigrated with his family to New Jersey in 1992, while his father earned an M.Div at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Growing up in New Jersey, his home was located between a RCA Church and the city’s largest Jewish Temple. Graduating from Hope College in 2008, David went on to earn a Master’s of Music from Northern Illinois University (Dekalb, IL) before returning to live and work in Holland at Community Action House for nearly seven years.

David joined the LIA family in summer of 2021. He brings deep experiences in volunteer management, fundraising, marketing, project management, data analysis, and a life-long learner’s curiosity to best support the funding and community-building efforts of LIA. In his previous lives, he has served as a youth orchestra conductor, Lilly Scholar, violist, chamber musician.

Asylum Attorney

sfilcik@lia-michigan.org

Sam has lived in West Michigan since he was young, having grown up in Holland. After high school at Zeeland, he graduated from Hope College in 2007. While at Hope, Sam studied several different languages and traveled to the Dominican Republic and Japan. After graduation, Sam worked as an insurance adjuster for several years before pursuing a legal career. He studied a wide range of legal topics, including immigration law, at Michigan State University College of Law. Sam graduated magna cum laude in 2015. Sam worked as a judicial intern with the Hon. Kathleen Feeney in Kent County before working as a plaintiffs’ attorney at a small firm in Grand Rapids.

Sam is committed to providing high-quality legal services to the underserved and underrepresented people of West Michigan. As Lighthouse’s Asylum Attorney, Sam's focus is representing asylum seekers from around the world that have found refuge in West Michigan.

In his personal life, Sam enjoys playing piano, exploring nature, playing soccer, and spending time with his family. He and his wife have three young kids and two dogs: a border collie mix and a chihuahua mix. Nico, the chihuahua, can often be found keeping an eye on things in the office. Sam’s younger daughter Ivy has Down Syndrome, and she is a little beacon of joy wherever she goes.

Staff Attorney

bill@lia-michigan.org

Bill grew up in a very small town in Southwest Michigan. During high school, he worked as an agricultural laborer, field inspector, and translator before graduating from the University of Michigan in 2010. He enjoyed a first career teaching high school Spanish, before leaving to pursue his law degree. Bill graduated magna cum laude from the Western Michigan Thomas C. Cooley School of Law in 2020. Bill worked as a research attorney for the Michigan State Court of Appeals and in private insurance defense.

Bill joined Lighthouse in November 2022. He is unequivocally committed to defending the rights and dignity of all people without exception.

Bill and his wife live in Zeeland, where they enjoy discovering new places to hike and swim. They have a new puppy and grow an obscene amount of vegetables in their ever-expanding garden.

Consulting Attorney

kking@lia-michigan.org

Kiely is a lifelong resident of Holland, Michigan. She graduated from Zeeland East High School and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. Kiely then pursued and earned her Juris Doctor at Notre Dame Law School, and she was sworn into the State Bar of Michigan in 2014. In 2015, Kiely joined Sarah as one of the original team members at Lighthouse.

While working in Estate Planning from 2021 to 2023, Kiely continued her connection with Lighthouse through occasional contract work. Kiely has recently returned to Lighthouse on a full-time basis.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Kiely enjoys reading, writing, genealogy, petting cats, watching birds, and spending time with family.

DOJ Representative

lramirez@lia-michigan.org

Born and raised in Holland MI, Laura graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A in Spanish. During her time in undergrad, Laura studied abroad, volunteered, and was a part of various student-led organizations.

Laura began work at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates in October of 2018. She has held various roles within the organization and currently works as a full-time Legal Assistant. She values the importance of fair representation in the immigrant community. Laura believes that every client should have the opportunity to achieve their dream. She is working on becoming a Department of Justice Accredited Representative so that she will be able to serve LIA’s clients in a greater capacity. Her favorite part of working at LIA is the opportunity to help members of the community directly. A proud new mother, Laura recently welcomed a baby boy in March 2021.

DOJ Representative

vsequeiracortez@lia-michigan.org

idal was born and raised in Managua, Nicaragua. He grew up going to a culturally diverse school, being exposed to cultures like South Korea, Bangladesh, Haiti, Brazil, and the USA, among others, since childhood. As a traveling musician, he has spent time in countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina, among others, securing him the opportunity to acquire multicultural knowledge of different Latin American cultures and their history. Due to political unrest in Nicaragua and his involvement in protests against the Nicaraguan dictator, Vidal was a semester shy of majoring in finance.

Vidal has his Department of Justice accreditation and is preparing for his LSATs to apply for law school. He believes that every human being deserves the opportunity to live a life of dignity in peace, and safety. His motivation and passion for immigration stem from his own personal experience undergoing the process, and it has only grown stronger as he spends more time working at LIA. In his free time, he loves to make music, surf, get tattoos, and watch dog videos.

DOJ Representative

grace@lia-michigan.org

Grace McConaghie has worked with Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates since 2021 in multiple roles. After first serving as both a Legal Services intern and later as a Development intern, she started full-time as the asylum legal assistant in May 2022. She now is accredited through the Department of Justice and handles her own cases ranging from asylum to work permits to temporary protected status and more.

Grace graduated from Hope College in 2022 with degrees in Sociology and Spanish, and worked extensively with the Fried Center for Global Engagement to assist with the office’s efforts to elevate global experiences for students and the larger campus community. Also while at Hope, Grace dedicated time to starting a new branch of a non-profit coffeeshop that raised money for International Justice Mission, which fights to end human trafficking around the world.

Grace worked extensively with the New American Legal Clinic, and spent summer 2022 primarily with Afghan clients assisting in their asylum applications. Moving forward, Grace will continue working with Sam to serve clients seeking asylum from any country in the world. While Grace’s degree prepares her for Spanish-speaking clients, she has thoroughly enjoyed learning from Afghan clients about their cultures and history.

Having grown up in Peoria, Illinois, Grace now resides right here in Holland, which she calls her new home. When she isn’t working hard at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates, she enjoys game nights with her friends and family and exploring West Michigan’s beaches, lakes, and food.

NALC Legal Assistant

bethany@lia-michigan.org

Bethany graduated from Ferris State University in December of 2023 with her Bachelor’s in Spanish for the Professions and Social Justice. She joined Lighthouse full-time in 2024 not only with her academic experiences learning about social justice and Spanish in the classroom setting but also with experience in the practical application of both fields.

Bethany has applied her knowledge as she tutored adults in GED programs, interpreted for and taught English to high school students, and was an intern at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates since 2021. Through her time there, she has become dedicated to advocating for equity for everyone.

Outside of work, Bethany enjoys fiber arts of all kinds. Whether it’s crocheting, knitting, sewing, or whatever else, you’ll rarely find her without a project on hand. On evenings and weekends, Bethany loves to spend her time with her two Cavapoo puppies on her lap and a project on her crochet hook.

Legal Assistant

angelh@lia-michigan.org

Born and raised in Holland, Angel has a strong sense of the importance of a prosperous community and knows that growth starts at home. He has had experience with numerous local organizations such as local businesses and non-profit organizations across the greater city of Holland. Angel is a motivated young individual always prepared for any opportunity to help others at all times.

With both parents being immigrants from Mexico, Angel is a first generation U.S. Citizen. Seeing first hand the struggles that immigrants face, Angel seeks to help those in similar situations by lending a helping hand. At Lighthouse, Angel is eager to be a part of a team with highly skilled and driven individuals with similar missions as his own. LIA is an ever-growing community and he is ready to help see it flourish even more.

He is a current student at Grand Valley State University, aiming to complete his Bachelor's degree. With his field of study being Social Work, he aims to help others and assist in any way possible. Outside of his work and studies, Angel enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his family. Angel’s ultimate goal is to be in a position which allows him to be a voice of advocacy against prejudice towards all minority groups.

Administrative Assistant

edith@lia-michigan.org

Edith grew up in a small agricultural town outside of Holland. She was born to migrant parents, whose example encouraged her to work hard. With agriculture work being so close to home, she has witnessed the struggles of many migrants and, more importantly, the lack of resources available to them while facing the challenges of settling in a different country and learning its culture.

Working for LIA, Edith enjoys helping the immigrant community directly. Making connections, being attentive, and having a welcoming atmosphere are so important to her; she strives to make everyone feel accepted as they walk into LIA.

Edith’s creative side takes over after work and she spends much of her time painting and participating in a variety of painting workshops. She also loves spending time with her family, partner, and beloved dog Benny.

Development Officer

betsy@lia-michigan.org

As the proud mother of four sons and wife to her husband John, Betsy joined the LIA in January of 2024. Educated in Holland and former student of Hope College, Betsy has had a wide variety of professional experiences, including bonus time as an expat in Guanajuato, Mexico.

From an early career as a hairstylist, to retail and communications part-time while her children were young, she has always had a passion for working with people. As her children grew, so did her passion for making Holland a more diverse, inclusive and equitable community.

After leaning into allyship and learning more about advocacy, she discovered new passions and a desire to step back into the professional world of nonprofit and community-building work. Betsy thrives in purpose-driven environments and she is thrilled to use her gifts for organization and strategic planning to support the development team at LIA.

Her spare time is rare but she always uses it to relax with her family, host gatherings with friends, or plan new adventures to new places. She loves to explore new restaurants, try new things, vacation new places (near and far) and build deep connections with new people.

Legal Services Coordinator

leah@lia-michigan.org

Born in Zeeland, Michigan, Leah's love for language started young when she was enrolled in a local Spanish Immersion program. As her fluency grew throughout her childhood, so did her desire to connect with communities, cultures, and cuisines different from her own. Building on her curiosity for the world, Leah graduated with her B.A. in Global Studies and Spanish from Hope College.

During her time at Hope, Leah lived in Amman, Jordan, where she studied Arabic and completed research surrounding the Palestinian and Syrian refugee crisis in Northern Jordan. Her time abroad proved to be an invaluable part of her global education, and after graduating from Hope a few months later, she moved to a small city in Thailand. There, Leah was a First Grade Language Immersion Teacher to 40 students and traveled across southeast Asia.

In 2023 Leah landed back in the US and spent a year working in Immigrant Foster Care, leveraging her love for advocacy with her time working with children and refugees abroad. Leah joined the LIA team in 2024 and treasures getting to use her experiences to support immigrants and refugees in her hometown. She thrives being out in the community and interfacing directly with clients and volunteers.

Outside of LIA, Leah sits on the board of Out on the Lakeshore and enjoys writing on her blog, traveling, and spending time with friends.