Aaron is a nationally recognized immigration and civil-rights attorney who identified the cannabis-immigration conflict early and has been a leading voice on the issue ever since. His representation of Oswaldo Barrientos generated national coverage and helped bring the issue to the attention of Congress.
I founded Novo Legal Group on the conviction that immigration and civil-rights work belong in the same firm — because the families we represent live at the intersection of both. A Super Lawyers Rising Star, I combine aggressive advocacy with strategic thinking in cases involving police misconduct, excessive force, wrongful arrest, and the immigration consequences of criminal contact.
In February 2019, USCIS sent my client Oswaldo Barrientos a letter denying his citizenship application on the grounds of a "controlled substance violation." Barrientos had never been arrested. His only "violation" was working in an industry his state had legalized and regulated. Bryce Downer and I took the case, and the story generated national coverage that helped expose how federal enforcement was penalizing immigrants for following state law.
I am the firm's default byline for blog posts and op-eds, and I am the attorney of record on the cases where the firm fights hardest. If you are looking for an attorney who reads a case the whole way through — the criminal piece, the immigration piece, the civil-rights piece — this is the door to come through.
Removal defense · Cannabis-immigration · Naturalization · Family-based
Police misconduct · Excessive force · Wrongful arrest · Constitutional violations
Felony defense · Federal cases · Cases with immigration consequences
Past results don't predict future ones. Every case is its own facts. These are here so you have a sense of the work.
Represented Oswaldo Barrientos after USCIS denied his citizenship for legal cannabis employment. National media coverage; case helped drive Gardner-Warren legislation.
