Biography
Yanira Sierra is a bilingual immigration attorney at Vasquez Law Firm whose legal career spans more than 15 years across prosecution, public service, and immigration defense. Before focusing on immigration law, she served for fourteen years with the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, rising from Assistant District Attorney to Interim District Attorney of the Carolina District and also serving as Inspector General. There she worked in the Specialized Domestic Violence and Child Sexual Abuse Unit and supervised a team of more than 25 attorneys and staff. Today, Yanira represents clients in humanitarian immigration matters, including asylum, VAWA, U visas, T visas, and TPS, and has appeared in master and individual hearings before the immigration courts. She has managed high-volume caseloads in removal defense and adjustment of status and has worked with unaccompanied minors and detained individuals. Her trauma-informed approach is shaped by years of work alongside survivors of violence. Yanira is also a dedicated legal educator. She leads Know Your Rights presentations, has shared immigration law guidance on Radio Ritmo Latino, and taught AP Spanish in Texas, where she received Birdville ISD's Distinguished Educator Award. She earned her J.D. summa cum laude from Inter American University School of Law and her B.S. in Biology from American University in Washington, D.C.