DeAnne Hilgers is a partner practicing immigration law with Lindquist & Vennum and represents employers of all sizes on a wide variety of immigration-related matters. She has extensive experience in assisting companies with Form I-9 audits and compliance, as well as with enforcement issues by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including inspections and raids. DeAnne has assisted numerous employers in gaining and improving corporate compliance before ICE becomes involved, and has negotiated several successful results on behalf of her clients when ICE has become involved.
DeAnne also helps companies and individuals secure employment- and family-based immigrant visas, including PERM and marriage-based permanent residency, as well as nonimmigrant (temporary) visas for executives and managers, business visitors, workers in specialty occupations, trainees, entrepreneurs, and religious workers. In addition, the majority of her pro bono practice is devoted to improving the legal system for low-income immigrants through personal representation and systemic change.
She is past chair of the MN-Dakotas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is a member of AILA’s national Verification Committee, working on Form I-9 and compliance policy issues at a national level. DeAnne is a frequently-sought commentator on immigration topics both general and discrete on the national and state stage, including the Wall Street Journal and Minneapolis StarTribune.
DeAnne also has significant litigation experience, from highly complex antitrust matters to real estate matters such as lease and contract disputes, construction defects and condemnation. Prior to joining Lindquist & Vennum, DeAnne served as law clerk to the Honorable Russell A. Anderson of the Minnesota Supreme Court
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Honors and Awards
- Minnesota Rising Stars, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009
Community Involvement
- Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law
- Board Member, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
- MSBA Immigration Council
- MSBA Immigration Section Pro Bono Committee
- Past Chair, Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter, American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Board Member, AILA National Verification and Documentation Liaison Committee