Yanal Harbi Yousef, Esq.
About
Yanal Yousef is a federal immigration litigator with nearly two decades of experience handling complex immigration matters in federal courts across the country. His practice focuses on challenges to federal agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, mandamus, habeas corpus, and the Constitution.
At KKTP, Yanal represents clients nationwide in litigation involving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. His practice includes EB-5 investor and regional center matters, family-based immigration, citizenship and nationality claims, visa processing, immigration detention, and challenges to delayed and unlawful agency action.
Before joining KKTP, Yanal spent seventeen years with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation, where he began his career through the Attorney General’s Honors Program and rose to serve as a senior attorney. He represented the United States before nearly every federal circuit court in the country, briefing and arguing cases involving a broad range of complex immigration and administrative law issues, including asylum, protection under the Convention Against Torture, criminal grounds of removability, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, nationality claims, constitutional challenges, and statutory and regulatory interpretation.
Yanal’s experience representing both the federal government and private clients gives him a valuable perspective on federal immigration litigation. He understands how agencies and government counsel evaluate disputes, develop litigation positions, and respond when agency action is challenged in court. He draws on that perspective to identify the strongest issues, anticipate potential obstacles, and develop litigation strategies aimed at achieving a practical and meaningful resolution.
Education
- American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.
- J.D.
- Honors: cum laude
- Student Attorney, International Human Rights Clinic
- Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
- B.S., Business Administration
- Concentration: Finance
Admissions
- Maryland
- U.S. District Court for District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for District of Maryland
- U.S. District Court for Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for Northern Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Past Positions
Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, 2008-2025
Professional Associations
- American Immigration Lawyers Association, Member