Leani Garcia Torres

Leani García Torres is the Deputy Director of State and Local Initiatives at the American Immigration Council where she oversees the Council’s state legislative advocacy and leads efforts to engage state business leaders and advise governors’ policy staff on immigrant and refugee integration. Leani has more than nine years of experience working at the intersection of business and public policy across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Most recently, she built and managed the state-level policy and advocacy portfolio at New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research and advocacy organization that made the economic case for smart, sensible immigration policies in cities, states, and nationally. She holds an M.A. from New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach.