Sherry Nohara has practiced immigration law for over 20 years. She joined the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (now known as “ICE”) as an attorney in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. During her tenure with ICE, she trained attorneys, special agents, and deportation officers on matters including U.S. citizenship claims, criminal grounds of removability, customs, mental competency issues in immigration court, and Fourth Amendment law. She litigated one of the largest worksite enforcement cases involving I-9 violations, which resulted in a favorable published decision for the agency in 2015, United States v. Hartmann Studios, Inc. In 2016, Sherry received a Director’s Award from Sarah Saldaña, former Director of ICE under President Barack Obama.
After 18 years of legal public service, Sherry decided to pursue her dream of helping individuals with their immigration needs and started an immigration practice within a private law firm in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She represents individuals in their family-based applications, removal proceedings, and appellate matters, and assists small business owners with employment and investor visas. She also counsels employers on the I-9 audit process and compliance relating to employment eligibility verification.
Sherry obtained her law degree in 1996 from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and her undergraduate degree in Economics, with highest honors, from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1993. She is conversational in the Spanish language.