Mr. Velasquez is a former Trial Attorney (Prosecutor) for the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service (now the Department of Homeland Security). After graduating from law school in 1994 with a Juris Doctor degree, he was hired as an Assistant District Counsel for the INS through the Attorney General's Honor Grad Program. He worked for the INS in New York for over nine years before entering the private practice of immigration law in 2001. While working for the government, Attorney Velasquez represented the government's interests in deportation proceedings and provided legal advice to INS adjudicators and officers. He served as one of the INS' designated Special Interest (anti-terrorist) attorneys, holding a Top Secret security clearance.