Our Staff

Elizabeth Lopez, Esq. is the Founder and Executive Director of the Southern California Immigration Project (SCIP). Established in 2015, SCIP is a nonprofit organization that represents predominately African asylum seekers from the detention facilities in Imperial and San Diego counties in Southern California.

Elizabeth has nearly thirty years experience as an attorney and lobbyist. She spent over a decade running her own firm in Orange County representing plaintiffs in employment law cases before spending several years lobbying for social justice issues in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. While in D.C., she worked on the immigration bill and became aware of the tremendous need for immigration attorneys. This led her to return to Southern California where she spent seven years as an immigration attorney on the U.S./Mexico border with the nonprofit Casa Cornelia Law Center (CCLC) in San Diego. During her tenure at CCLC she represented hundreds of asylum seekers from over eighty countries throughout Africa and beyond.

In addition to running SCIP, Elizabeth serves on the board of directors of Survivors of Torture International (SOTI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for survivors of politically motivated torture and their families who live in San Diego County.

Ralph Enriquez, Esq. has over 10 years experience as an attorney and advocate. Originally from San Diego, he attended San Diego State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Business. His studies focused on marketing, South America, and Spanish, and catalyzed his travel to over 20 countries.

Ralph’s passion for social justice led him to California Western School of Law, where he earned his Doctor of Law (JD) and was subsequently licensed by the California Bar in 2010.  His firm’s practice focused on providing legal service to small businesses in San Diego.

After volunteering with multiple immigration legal service providers, Ralph worked for Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego as an immigration attorney, supervising immigration attorney and, eventually, director of their refugee programming, legal services programs, refugee/immigrant housing, and immigrant sheltering at the California border. He has demonstrated experience integrating immigration best practices into large scale programming serving refugees and immigrants. He has won asylum for his clients in immigration court and the asylum office.