Guadalupe Victoria Aguirre

Guadalupe (“Lupe”) Victoria Aguirre is the Deputy Director of U.S. Litigation at IRAP. In this role, Lupe helps lead and support IRAP’s impact litigation in U.S. courts to advance and defend the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other people in need of humanitarian relief in the U.S.

Prior to joining IRAP, Lupe was a Senior Staff Attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York state affiliate of the ACLU. At NYCLU, Lupe litigated complex civil rights and civil liberties cases in federal and New York state courts covering a range of issue areas, including immigrant rights, police accountability, and government transparency. Lupe was a Bertha Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights where she started her impact-litigation practice, focusing on cases challenging government abuse and misconduct. Prior to her work as a civil rights litigator, Lupe began her career as an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow providing direct legal services to people facing detention, deportation, and individuals seeking humanitarian forms of immigration relief. Her commitment to advancing human and civil rights stems from her lived experiences witnessing the impact of unjust systems on her family and community. 

Lupe holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Lupe is bilingual in Spanish and English. She is a member of the New York State bar.