Heidi Cerneka is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner since 1996 and an immigration attorney whose ministry focuses on migration, women, and human trafficking. Based at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2019, she works with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso and also collaborates with Instituto Terra, Trabalho e Cidadania in São Paulo, Brazil. After more than two decades accompanying incarcerated women, her current work combines direct legal advocacy, prevention, education, and policy engagement to address trafficking, forced crime, migration, and the systemic violence experienced by people in vulnerable situations.