Founder and Managing Partner

Katie Blankenship (she/her) is an attorney, activist, and immigrants’ rights advocate based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She earned her undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a Master’s degree in Humanities from New York University. As a member of the charter class at Belmont University College of Law, Ms. Blankenship co-founded the Belmont Law Review and established the Belmont Legal Aid Society, serving as its president.

Following law school, she completed a judicial clerkship in the Eastern District of Tennessee before practicing as a litigation associate at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP, where her practice focused on international construction and energy disputes. Ms. Blankenship subsequently relocated to Miami, Florida, to serve as the deputy legal director at the ACLU of Florida, managing the organization’s Immigrants’ Rights and First Amendment campaigns. In late 2024, she founded Sanctuary of the South to introduce creative and bold new immigration representation models. 

A single mom, Katie loves soaking up time with her daughter Ellis and tending to her garden.

Chief of Staff

Geraldo Salcedo (he/they) serves as SOS's Chief of Staff, where he co-leads the firm's operations and paralegal teams. Geraldo has also helped build the operational systems that keep urgent legal work moving. His paralegal work experience spans asylum, U visa, T visa, and other pathways to relief, and he has developed the intake and client communication practices that allow our practice to take on more cases while preserving the close relationships with clients and their families that define the firm. 

Geraldo draws from his years of anthropological training and his experience as a child of Dominican immigrants to advocate for migrants and displaced persons. He graduated with distinction in Anthropology from Yale University, where his research examined the socioeconomic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on underresourced New Haven communities. He also worked on research related to transgenerational trauma among pregnant Latin American migrant women. He carried that lens into policy work as a research associate at Americans for Financial Reform, where he traced how multinational financial institutions connect to current and historical crises affecting working-class people globally, and co-authored published reports on the private equity takeover of home health care and on congressional accountability to Wall Street.

Geraldo firmly believes that no human being is illegal. In their spare time, Geraldo recharges by spending time with their community, eating delicious foods, and traveling.

Managing Paralegal

Alejandra Puerto (she/her) is a first-generation immigrant born in La Ceiba, Atlantida, Honduras. She migrated to the United States without prior authorization, living the majority of her adolescence as an undocumented person. She (and her family) navigated the country’s cruel and unjust immigration systems to secure her citizenship in 2015. This journey propelled her to take a critical stance on immigration and human rights, pursuing a degree in Law, Societies, and Justice from the University of Washington. Her studies immersed her in coursework that illuminated the interconnectedness of U.S. foreign policy and the influx of immigration from the Global South. This historical and critical understanding contextualized her immigration journey and fueled her desire to join Sanctuary of the South, PLLC, to provide direct legal services to migrants and their families. Her vision of a just world is one where we acknowledge migration as a fundamental human right, a right that transcends social categories and is afforded to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation. In addition to her passion for social justice causes, Alejandra also deeply enjoys spending time with her family and friends, watching films and television shows, reading, writing, and staying physically active.

Communications and Operations Associate

Genevieve (she/her) is a paralegal assistant for SOS helping with document drafting, case research, and assisting the legal team. A French-American born and raised in Virginia, she is now based in Barcelona, Spain. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in National Security and Foreign Affairs. After university, she developed skills in ESG research and human rights/workers rights policy research working at a climate-tech startup. Growing up in Northern Virginia, she had the privilege of a diverse community and friends. Although across the pond now, she feels a responsibility as an American to do everything she can to make the US a better place for all of us to call home. Genevieve has combined years of experience volunteering at food banks and local libraries in Northern Virginia and also in Barcelona to connect with the local community  and grassroots organizations. In her free time, she enjoys getting outdoors in nature and journaling.

Development Director

Rooted in accountability, equity, and collective liberation, Jessica (she/her) brings over a decade of experience as a grant writer, donor communications specialist, and institutional giving strategist, securing resources to grow organizations supporting immigrant and refugee communities. As a queer, neurodivergent woman, Jessica is dedicated to justice and community care, supporting movements that prioritize safety, dignity, and power for historically disenfranchised communities. She is driven by the fierce belief that the health, joy, and leadership of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color must be resourced, celebrated, and amplified. Jessica specializes in developing and executing integrated fundraising and communications strategies that center equity, sustainability, and systemic change. Her work spans a range of issues across human and civil rights. A former journalist, she brings a deep commitment to honest storytelling as a tool for change. She has held leadership roles at grassroots, national, and international nonprofits and continues to support alternative models of care, solidarity, and justice as a Floridian living in the American South. When she’s not working, Jessica can be found spending time with her beloveds or hiding under a pile of books, but always and forever surrounded by animals.

Technology & Operations Coordinator (Volunteer)

Sabah (she/her) is the Technology and Operations Volunteer at Sanctuary of the South. She previously worked as a Data Analyst at the ACLU of Florida, where she applied her technical skills to support civil rights advocacy. Sabah holds a Master's in Data Science from the University of Michigan, with a focus on leveraging data and technology to serve disadvantaged communities.

Her experience spans both academic and NGO spaces as well as local grassroots organizing—and she draws from both to inform how she shows up in her work. Time spent as a crisis hotline staffer, in a domestic violence shelter, and organizing with the Jacksonville Mutual Aid Collective and Food Not Bombs remains deeply meaningful to her, grounding her approach in community care and mutual aid. Sabah currently lives in Madrid and enjoys learning Spanish and Urdu, reading, and martial arts.

Communications Coordinator

Charlene (she/her) is a photographer, writer, editor and media producer. Born and bred in Singapore, she has spent most of her adult life working and travelling all over the world. Prior to returning to Singapore in 2020, Charlene worked with refugees and internally displaced people in northern Iraq for a US aid organisation. She is passionate about community, and in her work as a producer and editor, has championed important social issues, supporting practitioners in the field to tell stories of those most in need, as well as those making an impact.

Mich (él/he/they) is a transgender movement lawyer, comedic storyteller, and human rights activist originally from Miami, Florida who has found a sacred home with chosen family in New Orleans, Louisiana. Over the past two decades, Mich has worked zealously to uplift the voices, power and leadership of directly impacted immigrants from the global majority through community organizing, direct legal defense, civil impact litigation, fundraising, and policy advocacy. Mich is a co-founder of SOS and now dedicates his time fully to supporting the movement for abolition as a founding member of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition. Mich finds queer joy in dancing, making his partner Marilyn laugh, and being a dog-dad to his two pups, Mochi & Miso.

Hannah (she/ella) is a South Louisianan born and raised. She graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Linguistics and Spanish Literature. Hannah grew up in communities of all shapes and sizes and seeks to foster stronger, safer communities for all. Through immigration advocacy and legal aid with the Southern Poverty Law Center and project management of statewide coalitions and federal class action lawsuits, she has seen firsthand that we’re all better together.  Hannah is a systems builder, digital archivist, event planner, and digital designer. She assists SOS with website design and digital campaigns. When she’s not organizing and logisticizing, Hannah can be found in her home garden, meal prepping from the farmers market, caring for her tuxedo cats, or designing infographics in Canva.

Jennifer (she/her/ella) is a queer Afro-Latina with 20+ years of entrepreneur, coaching, and earned media experience. She specialized in coaching BIPOC and queer entrepreneurs in breaking up with burnout and ditching the systems that drain them. Her strategic professional style blends business strategy and organization, and operation management rooted in brand values. She is a supportive thought-partner who understands the intersection business, rest, and impact.