Michele Garnett McKenzie is the Advocacy Director at The Advocates for Human Rights. She received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School and her B.A. from Macalester College.

Ms. McKenzie joined the staff of The Advocates in 1999 as a staff attorney representing asylum seekers and immigration detainees and in 2003 became the Refugee and Immigrant Program Director managing the Asylum, Detention, and Walk-In Clinic Projects in addition to legal and policy advocacy relating to immigration. Prior to joining The Advocates, Ms. McKenzie was in private immigration practice in Saint Paul, Minnesota and served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Arizona and Nevada. She has served an adjunct clinical faculty member of William Mitchell College of Law and the University of Minnesota Law School.

As Advocacy Director, Ms. McKenzie is responsible for policy advocacy and community and coalition engagement around The Advocates' priority issues, including human trafficking, refugee and immigrant rights, and diaspora community engagement. In 2011, Ms. McKenzie successfully led The Advocates' effort to pass groundbreaking legislation protecting sexually exploited youth in the State of Minnesota. Ms. McKenzie also directs the Discover Human Rights initiative to engage U.S.-based social justice organizations in the human rights movement and the One Voice Minnesota initiative to build welcoming communities for all Minnesotans. 

Ms. McKenzie serves on the national leadership team of the Immigration Advocates Network and on the advisory committee of Sarah's...An Oasis for Women, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet housing women in transition, and has previously served as chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association's Human Rights Committee and the national steering committee of the Detention Watch Network. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is admitted to practice in the State of Minnesota.

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