General Info

Mr. Derres's extensive experience focuses on detention and deportation defense, asylum, family based immigration, nonimmigrant visas including religious worker visas, waiver of inadmissibility, and naturalization. Mr. Derres is also adept at handling appeals before Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Mr. Derres successfully represented hundreds of clients from Africa, the Middle East and Asia before asylum offices all over the United States, USCIS offices, immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Among his clients are business executives, religious leaders, artists, musicians, athletes, and graduate students. Mr. Derres leverages his extensive experience in the fields of immigration and refugee laws and takes a personal approach when working with clients on a one-to-one basis to develop customized and pragmatic solutions that assist them to achieve their goals. Mr. Derres earned his Master's of Law (LL.M.) degree in U.S. law with concentration on immigration law and human rights from Washington School of Law in St. Louis. After earning his LL.M., Mr. Derres interned for the St. Louis 22nd Circuit Court. Before founding Derres and Associates, PLLC, Mr. Derres worked for Law Offices of David Garfield and was a partner at Plenpovo Law PLLC. Mr. Derres also worked as Refugee Protection Assistant and Legal Advisor to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Eritrea, East Africa. Mr. Derres is admitted to practice law in the state of New York and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Mr. Derres is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and Capital Area Immigrant' Rights (CAIR) Coalition. Mr. Derres is fluent in Tigrinya and Amharic.