About Kivu Immigration Law
Kivu Immigration Law PLLC is a social enterprise that provides affordable, convenient, and high-quality legal representation. It is a private law firm in Worthington, Minnesota that handles only immigration matters. Situated in rural southwest corner of Minnesota, Kivu Law aims to serve the tri-state area of Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota where there is a growing number of immigrants but limited legal resources available close to home.
Kivu Law’s owner, Erin Schutte Wadzinski, won the Initiative Foundation’s Initiators Fellowship in 2019 with the idea to open her very own immigration law firm. Thanks to the support of the Southwest Initiative Foundation and many local community members, Erin launched Kivu Law in early 2020. Kivu Law’s office is located in downtown Worthington on Main Street across from the restaurant “El Azteca”.
Kivu Law charges flat fees for its legal services based on the type of immigration case the client has. Kivu Law is committed to transparency up front so that prospective clients have a clear understanding of all costs involved with filing an immigration application. Kivu Law will also evaluate a prospective client’s eligibility for a USCIS fee waiver to reduce the costs associated with filing the application.
Attorneys
Erin Schutte Wadzinski
Attorney/Owner
Thea Porisch
Attorney
Staff
Alba Mendez
Administrative Assistant
Leah Ward
Legal Assistant
Gabriel Fueston
Legal Assistant
Eugenio Lopez
Administrative Assistant
Garrett Lieffring
Associate Director of Employer Relations
Abbey Craun
Legal Assistant
Jairo Pérez
Legal Assistant
Kate Schlauch
Volunteer
Kivu Summer Internship Program
The Kivu Summer Internship is a highly selective program for undergraduate and law students passionate about social justice and interested in gaining real-world experience in immigration law. This internship is paid and is in-person at the Kivu Law office in Worthington, Minnesota. Applications for the 2024 Kivu Summer Internship will be available in December 2023.
2022 Kivu Summer Interns
Sydney Erickson
University of Minnesota ’21
University of Iowa College of Law ’24
Evelyn Letona Robles
Yale College ’25
Jonathan Parts
Rice University ’20
University of Iowa College of Law ’24
Ashley Reyes
Yale College ’25
2021 Kivu Summer Interns
Grace Anderson
Concordia College ’20
University of Minnesota Law School ‘23
Jose Chiquito
Claremont McKenna College ‘24
Kynzie Clark
Yale College ‘22
About our name
Kivu Immigration Law PLLC is named after Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s largest lakes. Attorney Erin visited Lake Kivu in 2016 while on a work trip to Rwanda. She fell in love with the eucalyptus and pine-covered hills jutting out of the deep, still waters of Lake Kivu. The photo above of Lake Kivu was taken by Attorney Erin from the lodge where she stayed, nestled in the tropical hills near Kibuye, Rwanda.
Lake Kivu is situated in Africa’s Great Rift Valley and straddles the border of western Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in East Africa. Due to volcanic activity, there is a significant amount of dissolved methane gases in Lake Kivu’s deep waters that may be developed as energy sources in the future.
