JONATHAN D. RYAN

Executive Director
RAICES

Jonathan Ryan has served as the Executive Director of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) since 2008. RAICES provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children, families and refugees in Central and South Texas. Under Mr. Ryan’s tenure, RAICES has grown from an office of four to become the largest nonprofit immigration law office in Texas, with more than 100 people and offices in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Houston and Washington, D.C. He has expanded the agency’s services to include the representation of thousands of unaccompanied children and mothers with children in detention each year, free services for DACA-eligible individuals across South Texas and refugee resettlement. In recent years, RAICES has developed into one of the strongest advocacy voices for immigrant rights in the nation. Mr. Ryan has been featured and quoted in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The LA Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and The Huffington Post; as well as frequent appearances in both Spanish- and English-language television and media. In his prior position, he helped to establish a pro bono legal program for adults in DHS detention. Jonathan received his B.A. from Columbia College in New York and is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.