I was a prosecutor for ICE despite my mom coming into the US undocumented. I quit because I was tired of people not being treated humanely.

• Veronica Cardenas is the daughter of two immigrants from South America.
• She worked as a prosecutor for ICE, but eventually decided she had to quit.
• Her private practice allows her to bring together her family history and professional expertise.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Veronica Cardenas, founder of Humanigration. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up feeling pressure to succeed, so that everything my parents went through would be worth it. My dad is an immigrant from Peru. He came to the US with legal status when he was 17, after a long seven-year wait for a family visa.

Soon after, he met my mom. She was from Colombia and had crossed the southern border without documentation. She had been detained and was facing deportation. They married quickly, in part to give my mother legal standing in the country. They're still together 41 years later.

My mom faced a lot of hardships in Colombia that she's only started talking about recently. As a child, I only knew that she put her dreams aside to raise her four children, and she felt some resentment about that. Knowing that motivated me to work extra hard with the opportunities I had that my mom never did.

I felt torn between 2 identities

Although I was born a US citizen, I always felt like I was stuck between two worlds. I never felt fully Latina or fully American.

Despite that, I was driven. I became the first in my family to attend college and later law school. Being a lawyer felt prestigious, and as a minority, the law was very important to me because it defined my rights and boundaries.

I aced my classes on immigration law, but I wanted to practice anything but that. My whole life story had been tied to immigration. Still, I applied for an internship with the Department of Homeland Security when a friend encouraged me to. After graduation and passing the bar, I became a trial attorney for the government, prosecuting immigration cases.

The job seemed to shift within a few years

At the time, I was working in New York City, litigating many asylum hearings. As the government counsel, my job was to argue against asylum seekers. At the time, most of the cases I prosecuted were granted asylum, so I didn't feel the sting of being responsible for someone's deportation.

I moved into a two-year role with investigations related to major crimes. Trying people responsible for sex trafficking and other serious crimes was rewarding. My team often helped the victims of trafficking get legal status or reunite with their families.

After that, I returned to court in New York City, but the job felt very different. There were lots of people stopped at the border and minors in court by themselves. I'm a professional who worked very hard to become good at my job. I wasn't going to throw the book at a minor who was undefended.

I needed a stable job, but I eventually resigned

At the time, I was going through a difficult divorce and providing for my two children. The pay and security of a government job were appealing. But I began to feel more tension with my work. I realized I never talked about it with my family.

Ultimately, I felt like I had to resign. I believe we can enforce immigration laws humanely without people risking their lives or their children. Yet, I no longer saw that happening in the courtroom. I stepped down in 2023.

Today I work in a private practice

I started a private practice defending people facing immigration removal. I realized how fraught immigration was. When I was working for the government, it was easy to believe that I was a wall defending the country from potentially dangerous immigrants. Suddenly, I was hearing from client after client about the way the immigration system mistreated them. I still believe we need immigration laws, but they need to be enforced with fairness and justice.

In addition to my private practice, I started Humanigration, an organization that educates immigration lawyers about the rights of noncitizens. I also hold community events to educate noncitizens about their rights.

At the end of the day, everyone in this country is an immigrant. We shouldn't forget this. Today, my parents and immediate family are all citizens. I now have three kids, and I tell them about their family's immigration story with pride.