Betsaida received her bachelor’s in environmental studies with a focus in conservation biology from the College of Idaho.  After college, she spent two years as a paralegal at Southern Migrant Legal Services (SMLS) in Nashville, Tennessee where she performed outreach to farmworkers in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky and helped attorneys with all aspects of litigation on behalf of farmworkers.

Betsaida’s work at SMLS led her to attend the University of Idaho College of Law where she graduated in 2020.  While in law school she was awarded a CALI Excellence award in an International Human Rights course.  She co-founded the school’s National Lawyers Guild student chapter and was selected from a national pool of applicants for the Michael Maggio Immigrants’ Rights Summer Fellowship, alongside Immigrant Justice Idaho, for the summer of 2019.

Upon graduation, Betsaida worked for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Immigrant Justice Idaho before returning to Christensen Legal. Betsaida has experience in deportation defense, Board of Immigration Appeals, family petitions, consular processing, adjustment of status, naturalization, U visas, asylum, DACA, and more.  In 2021, Betsaida was recognized by the Idaho Business Review in the Leaders in Law Awards in the Up and Coming category.

During her free time, she volunteers on the board of directors of W/REST, a community cooperative with a collective law firm.

Education: 

J.D., University of Idaho, College of Law, 2020

B.S., College of Idaho, 2013

Professional Affiliations:

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)- member since 2020

National Immigration Project (NIP)- member since 2020

Washington State Bar- member since 2020

Languages: Spanish