Sophia Gurulé, a Chicana deportation defense attorney and long-time union leader at The Bronx Defenders, was unjustly terminated on June 27, 2025, following an abrupt suspension and despite having no prior disciplinary record in nearly eight years of service. Throughout her tenure at BxD, Sophia demonstrated unwavering commitment to immigrant communities, to the Bronx, and to her coworkers, serving on the first and second BxD Union bargaining committees (2020–2022, 2024), as Vice President of Membership in 2023, and as a Trustee and Executive Board member of ALAA–UAW Local 2325 (2024–2025). In addition to her termination from the organization,
Sophia’s role as Immigration Policy Counsel was eliminated on October 10, 2024 alongside Carol Larancuent. Shortly thereafter, Carol and Sophia jointly challenged these layoffs through the CBA’s grievance procedure. Management continued to target Sophia, including by inexplicably replacing her long-time supervisor in April 2025 with someone with less deportation defense litigation experience than Sophia to newly oversee her work. Less than two months under this new supervisor Management issued Sophia its first “unpaid suspension pending investigation” in its 28-year organizational history.
These actions together demonstrate a deliberate and punitive pattern of union busting, retaliation, disparate treatment, and bad faith tactics weaponized to eliminate a respected worker, union leader, deportation defense attorney, and immigrant policy advocate who has dedicated her career to defending immigrant families and advancing justice within her workplace.
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