Khatia Mikadze is an attorney who primarily handles removal defense and litigation. She has primarily practiced in Annandale Immigration Court and has worked on appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Before Murray Osorio, she was a public interest fellow at Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition where she represented detained noncitizens in immigration courts in the DMV area. She has also closely worked with CAIR’s federal litigation team, and assisted with various impact litigation projects. She has also represented noncitizens in front of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, including U visa and waivers of inadmissibility. She visited El Salvador as part of a human rights trip in 2022.
Khatia graduated from American University's Washington College of Law (WCL) where she served as a Student Attorney at the WCL Immigrant Justice Clinic representing detained noncitizens in their merits cases, and other clients in affirmative applications, including SIJS. While at law school, she also served as a Co-Director of the International Refugee Assistance Project's student chapter where she organized students to draft and submit multiple comments to oppose arbitrary agency rules affecting asylum seekers. Khatia is a proud fellow of Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship program and has clerked for an administrative judge in D.C.
Before law school, Khatia worked for the NYC government managing the largest immigration legal services grant programs in the country and she has volunteered at South Texas Family detention center in Dilley, Texas, and refugees in Bologna, Italy.
Awards
- Equal Justice Works' Regional Public Interest Award, 2020
- Robert A. Shuker Scholarship Public Interest Fund recipient, 2020
- Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia scholarship recipient 2019
Bar Admissions
Representative Matters
- Won protection under the Convention against Torture for a Salvadoran man convicted of multiple theft offenses in Virginia
- Won asylum for an Afghan man who worked with the United States military forces in Afghanistan and whom the ICE had wrongfully labeled as a security threat.
- Won Withholding of Removal for a Salvadoran man who worked in the Salvadoran military and faced persecution from the Salvadoran gangs
- Won asylum for a man with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who was convicted of a felony in Virginia.
- Won bond for an individual who had previously received an order of deportation but whose data was unlawfully breached by ICE
- Won asylum for a gay man who was convicted of multiple felonies but who himself was a victim of kidnapping and sexual assault in VA.
- Secured work authorization for multiple non-citizens, including the ones granted Convention against Torture, and the ones with pending asylum applications.
- Won release from ICE detention for noncitizens with final orders of removal.
Education
- 2021 American University Washington College of Law, J.D., Magna Cum Laude
- 2022 American University School of International Service, M.A. Global Migration & National Security
- 2014 City College or New York, City University or New York, Magna Cum Laude
Memberships
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Maryland State Bar Association
Languages
- Georgian (native)
- Spanish
- Russian
Interesting Facts
Khatia grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia and loves introducing her friends to Georgian food. She enjoys hiking and exploring local trails.
