National Immigration Law Center and Immigrant Justice Fund Name New Chief Communications Officer

LOS ANGELES — The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF) today announced the promotion of Victoria Ballesteros to serve as chief communications officer for the organizations. In this role, Ballesteros joins NILC and IJF’s executive leadership teams and will develop innovative communication and narrative strategy approaches in furtherance of NILC and IJF’s respective missions, while articulating the vision and impact of the two organizations.

“NILC and IJF’s strategic decision to create this new role signals a recognition of the importance of communication as a strategic driver of our work,” stated Ballesteros. “As the daughter of immigrants, I am humbled and honored to step into this role and shift the public narrative around the role of immigrants in our country, to advocate for a society where we all have the freedom to thrive, and to build visibility of immigrants as an important political constituency.”

“Victoria’s breadth of experience in communications and executive leadership make her the right person to guide our work advocating and amplifying immigrant voices,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of NILC and IJF. “Her leadership as director of communications over the past year has taken our communications efforts to new heights, and we’re thrilled to continue our work together in this new leadership role.”

Ballesteros joined NILC and IJF in 2020 as director of communications. In that role, she led NILC’s narrative and strategic communications work, as well as IJF’s political communications efforts during the 2020 election cycle. A search is currently underway for a new director of communications for NILC and IJF.

Ballesteros has more than 20 years of communications and prior executive leadership experience, including leading communication research and advocacy campaigns primarily in the nonprofit and public sectors. She has worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, California’s Senate Majority Leader, and for The SCAN Foundation.

Ballesteros has a master’s degree in communication management from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the California State University, Fullerton, with a minor in Chicano studies. She is fluent in Spanish and resides in Los Angeles.

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