Doran Michelle Shemin
Doran has diverse experience in deportation defense, business immigration, family immigration, humanitarian relief, and citizenship matters. She has substantial experience and prior success in waivers of inadmissibility, including provisional unlawful presence waivers, as well as cases involving sham marriage allegations. Doran has successfully assisted healthcare, technology, and residential real estate companies with the labor certification (PERM) process as well as obtaining various types of nonimmigrant visas for foreign national employees.
Doran has always focused on immigration law. While in law school, she represented clients as a student attorney at the American University Washington College of Law’s Immigrant Justice Clinic and completed other relevant coursework. It was her grandmother’s immigration story of immigrating to the United States from Argentina in the 1940s that originally sparked Doran’s interest in immigration law and her desire to learn Spanish. Doran’s husband is an immigrant from El Salvador.
Doran is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Bar Admissions
- Georgia 2017
- Virginia 2025
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 2019
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana 2025
- U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland 2025
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia 2025
Education
- 2019 – American University School of International Service, M.A. in International Affairs
- 2017 – American University Washington College of Law, J.D., cum laude
- 2014 – University of Tennessee, Knoxville, B.A. in History, minor in Spanish, cum laude
Federal Litigation (Selected Cases)
- Lopez Gomez v. Bondi, et al., 1:25-cv-02507 (E.D. Va. Jan. 15, 2026) (Trenga, J.) (habeas granted)
- Hernandez Hernandez v. Crawford, et al., 1:25-cv-01565 (E.D. Va. Oct. 16, 2025) (Trenga, J.) (habeas granted)
Professional Activities
- AILA DC Chapter Sterling EOIR Liaison Committee (2024 – 2025)
- AILA DC Chapter Webinar Committee (2022 – present)
Presentations and Media Appearances
- Beyond the Paperwork: Immigration Attorney Doran Shemin on Justice, Policy Reform, and the Future of US Immigration, LegalBridge Magazine (December 3, 2025)
- Navigating the Bumpy Road: From “Help, How Do We Keep This Employee?” to “We Received a Notice to Appear, What Now?”, AILA DC Chapter Conference (November 14, 2025)
- Britain Eakin, Va. Judge Orders Bond Hearing for Detained Salvadoran, Law360 (Oct. 17, 2025)
- PERM Nuances, AILA DC Chapter Conference (November 15, 2024)
Honors
- Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law Award (American University Washington College of Law)
Publications
- My Body Is My Temple: Utilizing the Concept of Dignity in Supreme Court Jurisprudence to Fight Sex Reassignment Surgery Requirements for Recognition of Legal Sex, 24 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pl’y & L. 491 (2016)
Languages
- Spanish
