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Bio

Dr. Marc Anthony Santamaria is the Director and Staff Attorney of the Habeas Institute, part of the Criminal Justice Center at UC Law SF. In his role, he directs federal litigation, supervises clinical casework, and advocates for immigrants’ constitutional due process rights in matters involving ICE detentions and bonds. Within the Ninth Circuit, Dr. Santamaria represents individuals challenging prolonged and unlawful immigration detention by filing Petitions for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and emergency Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs). He has advocated for clients before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (N.D. Cal.) and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (E.D. Cal.), litigating constitutional claims under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment on behalf of individuals held in ICE custody.

Before joining UC Law SF, Dr. Santamaria founded and led Santamaria Law Firm, P.C., an immigration law practice based in San Francisco. For more than 13 years, he has represented individuals and families in complex immigration matters, including asylum, removal defense, waivers, humanitarian relief, family-based immigration, federal litigation, and immigration detention cases.

Immigration Court and Humanitarian Relief

In Immigration Court, Dr. Santamaria has represented hundreds of respondents in removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). His litigation experience includes asylum applications under INA § 208, cancellation of removal applications under INA § 240A, adjustment of status, and other forms of humanitarian relief. His asylum practice has focused on complex claims involving political opinion, membership in a particular social group, religion, and race or ethnicity. He has represented survivors of domestic violence from Latin America, indigenous asylum seekers, including Mam-speaking clients from Guatemala and Nahuatl-speaking clients from Mexico, and individuals fleeing political persecution in countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua. He has also represented applicants seeking protection based on religious persecution. In addition to merits hearings, Dr. Santamaria has litigated a broad range of procedural and legal issues before the Immigration Court, including motions to advance hearing dates, responses opposing government motions to pretermit applications for relief, and legal briefs on the “changed circumstances” and “extraordinary circumstances” exceptions to the one-year asylum filing deadline under INA § 208(a)(2)(D). Beyond removal defense, his humanitarian practice included U nonimmigrant status (U visa) petitions for victims of qualifying crimes under 8 C.F.R. § 214.14 and VAWA self-petitions for survivors of domestic violence under INA § 204(a)(1)(A)–(B). He has worked with trauma-informed psychological evaluations and other supporting evidence to build comprehensive humanitarian cases for survivors of violence and persecution.

Family-Based Immigration and Naturalization

Dr. Santamaria’s family-based experience includes adjustment of status under INA § 245, consular processing, family-based immigrant petitions, and naturalization. He has guided individuals and families through each stage of the immigration process, from obtaining lawful permanent residence to becoming United States citizens. In addition to his professional experience, Dr. Santamaria personally navigated the marriage-based adjustment of status process for his wife from Vietnam. This firsthand experience has given him a practical understanding of the challenges families encounter throughout the USCIS process, including documentation requirements, interviews, and the emotional and logistical complexities of family-based immigration. His naturalization practice has included Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, for applicants with qualifying physical, developmental, or mental disabilities who seek an exception to the English language and/or civics requirements under INA § 312(b). By working closely with medical and mental health professionals, he has helped eligible lawful permanent residents overcome barriers to naturalization and successfully obtain U.S. citizenship.

Work and Investment-Based Visas

Dr. Santamaria’s employment- and investment-based practice includes EB-1A extraordinary ability petitions, O-1 extraordinary ability visas, and TN professional visas, National Interest Waiver (NIW) self-petitions under the Matter of Dhanasar framework, and E-2 treaty investor visas. He has represented entrepreneurs, professionals, athletes, researchers, and artists seeking employment- and investment-based immigration benefits. His E-2 treaty investor practice has included advising clients on qualifying investment under 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(e), including the “substantial,” “at-risk,” and “marginality” requirements. He has prepared comprehensive E-2 petitions supported by detailed business plans with multi-year financial and growth projections. Dr. Santamaria has helped Bay Area restaurant owners and Michelin chefs establish and expand successful restaurants. Since Dr. Santamaria earned his Tax Law LL.M., he has also assisted E-2 investors in spotting pre-immigration tax planning issues, working alongside qualified tax professionals to address them.

Teaching, Public Interest, and Professional Affiliations

Dr. Santamaria was a Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he taught LL.M. Legal Research and Writing from 2022–2026. He instructed international graduate students in U.S. legal research methodology, memorandum and brief drafting, and the CREAC (Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Application, Conclusion) framework for legal analysis. His course also covered core U.S. legal writing principles such as precision, organization, and persuasive structure tailored to LL.M. students new to the American common law system.

He also serves as a volunteer Refugee Concerns Coordinator for CATESOL, California’s statewide association for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, connecting his work in language access to immigrant communities. His public interest work includes writing as a legal columnist for El Tecolote, a San Francisco Mission District publication, where he wrote consumer-protection guidance and warned readers about unauthorized “notario” practice.

Dr. Santamaria is an active member of the State Bar of California (Bar No. 284643, admitted 2012) and has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) since 2013.

Media Appearances

• Santamaria, Marc. “How to Avoid Common Notario Sales Pitches on Mission Street.” El Tecolote (2026).
• Santamaria, Marc. Quoted in Aneela Mirchandani, “Supreme Court Rules: American Soil, Not Blood, Determines Birthright Citizenship.” AsAmNews (June 30, 2026).
• Santamaria, Marc. “Trump Administration Moves Put Attention on Coveted H-1B Visa.” KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco (April 23, 2025).

Education

• Golden Gate University School of Law
  S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science), International Legal Studies,

• University of San Francisco School of Law
  LL.M. (Master of Laws), Taxation

• University of San Francisco
  M.A., TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

• San Francisco Law School
  J.D. (Juris Doctor)

• University of California, Berkeley
  B.A., Legal Studies

Selected Scholarship

• Doctoral Dissertation, Golden Gate University School of Law Digital Commons, Theses and Dissertations, Paper 67 2026