Emilie Hyams, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Director
Emilie Hyams was appointed as the deputy chief of staff for USCIS on March 14, 2022.
Experience and Achievements
Hyams previously served as counselor to the USCIS director from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, Hyams founded Immigration Strategies, LLC, a D.C.-based consulting firm that engages in immigration advocacy.
Before joining USCIS in 2015, Hyams served as counsel to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Washington, D.C. From 2009 to 2013, she served as director of Immigrant and Foreign Affairs and counsel for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York.
Prior to entering the public sector, Hyams was an associate attorney with the global immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, representing companies and individuals in U.S. immigration legal matters.
Her dedication to the immigration field began during an inspiring college internship in 2000 at an immigration law firm in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Education
Hyams received her Juris Doctor from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, and bachelor's degree in political science and Spanish literature from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.