Megan Brewer – Staff Attorney

Megan Brewer joined the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin in March of 2015. Before joining the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, Ms. Brewer served as an Asylum Officer with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Anaheim, CA, where she adjudicated Asylum and NACARA applications and interviewed applicants for Credible Fear and Reasonable Fear. Prior to working at the Asylum Office, Ms. Brewer was an attorney with a private immigration firm in Pasadena, CA. Ms. Brewer is a 2009 graduate of the UCLA School of Law with an emphasis in Critical Race Studies.

Education

• University of California at Los Angeles, Juris Doctor, 2009 (Critical Race Studies Concentration)
• University of California at Los Angeles, Bachelor of Arts in Ethnomusicology 2005

Memberships

• National Immigration Project for the National Lawyers Guild, Member
• American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member
• National Lawyers Guild, Member
• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Immigration Section, Member of Executive Committee

Select Cases

• Alvarado-Herrera v. Garland, 993 F.3d 1187, 1190 (9th Cir. 2021) (establishing the legal standard for the “reasonable fear” screening test before an immigration judge)
• Arce v. United States, 899 F.3d. 796 (9th Cir. 2018) (establishing that the federal courts have authority to consider damages actions under the Federal Tort Claims Act in cases involving unlawful deportations)
• Garcia v. United States Customs & Border Prot., No. CV215468DMGJEMX, 2021 WL 4815945, at *3 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 20, 2021) (district court decision enjoining the accrual of unlawful presence while Mr. Garcia challenged the denial of his immigrant visa)
• Rios v. United States Citizenship & Immigr. Servs., No. CV202370CBMPVCX, 2021 WL 4860686 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2021) (district court decision finding that applicant was eligible for permanent resident status)
• Gastelum Chavez v. Lynch, No. CV147566DMGAGRX, 2016 WL 4402795, at *8 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 16, 2016) affirmed by Chavez v. Sessions, No. 16-56349, 2017 WL 4216973 (9th Cir. Mar. 3, 2017) (declaring petitioner to have acquired United States Citizenship based on his grandmother’s birth in the United States)
• Torosyan v. Nielsen, No. 218CV5873PSGSK, 2018 WL 6167918, at *1 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 26, 2018) (order preliminarily enjoining application of bond regulation as unlawful to statute)
• Singh v. United States Citizenship & Immigration Servs., No. SACV-17-1538-JVSJCGX, 2019 WL 2620948 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 15, 2019) (granting preliminary injunction staying removal for applicant for permanent residency with outstanding removal order)
• Awais v. Customs and Border Protection, et al., No. 8:18-cv-00701-DOC-SK (C.D. Cal.) (granting stay of removal pending challenge to expedited removal order)
• Bonilla v. Lynch, 840 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. 2016) (establishing sua sponte jurisdiction to review denials of motions to reopen based on change in law)

Awards and Acknowledgements

• Golden Keyboard Award, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Immigration Section (2017)
• Recognition for Support for Pro Bono Legal Services from Sen. Kamala Harris (2018)

Admissions

• United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
• State Bar of California