She joined the ACLU in 2005 when the Orange County office first opened. Before joining the ACLU, Belinda was the Immigrant Rights and Day Laborer Project Staff Attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) from 2001 to 2004. At the ACLU and MALDEF, Belinda has served as counsel in civil rights cases involving free speech, religious freedom, and law enforcement abuse, and she has extensive experience advocating on policy matters involving law enforcement, racial profiling, and the free speech rights of day laborers. Belinda also works to educate the community about the limited scope of local police officers’ authority to enforce civil immigration laws. She is the recipient of the 2008 National Lawyers’ Guild Daniel Levy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Immigrants’ Rights.