Alia El-Sawi

Alia El-Sawi currently serves as the Victim Assistance Specialist for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). She has worked on human trafficking cases for over 18 years. Alia’s area of responsibility includes all of Georgia and Alabama (and formerly covered North and South Carolina). In this capacity, she designs and provides educational trainings and outreach to law enforcement, attorneys, mainstream service providers, and community-based organizations on human trafficking and child exploitation. Additionally, she is involved in assisting with the process for victim interviews and completing a portion of the immigration parole documents and relief available to human trafficking and child exploitation survivors.  She works to establish collaborative relationships locally, statewide, and nationally.

Prior to her work with Homeland Security, Alia worked for a non-profit, Tapestri, and served as the Anti-Human Trafficking Program Coordinator.  In her past position, she provided trainings, outreach, and direct services/case management to foreign-born survivors of human trafficking. Alia also worked on cases that involved immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She also served as the Chair of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Rescue & Restore Board for 3 years and served as the Freedom Network’s Social Service Committee Chair for 3 years. Alia is experienced in public speaking and has made many presentations for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services. She has also presented in other local, state, national, and international events and conferences.

In 2019, Alia briefed former Vice President, Mike Pence, on human trafficking in Georgia, when he visited the SAC Atlanta Office. Additionally, Alia was asked to speak at the Opening Ceremony for the Center to Counter Human Trafficking (CCHT). She has traveled overseas to train foreign governments on human trafficking and child exploitation in Chile, Peru, Brazil, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, and Budapest, Hungary. Alia has received several awards and recognition on her work within human trafficking: Georgia Trend’s Top 40 Under 40; ISB’s Top 40 Under 40; Atlanta Young Government Leaders Award; Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement Director’s Award; U.S. Attorney’s Award for the Northern District of Georgia; Special Agent in Charge Atlanta’s Patrick Wilhelm Award; Mercer University’s Mary Ann Drake Award Combatting Human Trafficking; HSI’s Executive Associate Director’s Award for Outstanding Outreach; and HSI’s Executive Associate Director’s Award for Labor Trafficking Case of the Year. Alia speaks Arabic, French, Spanish, and conversational Portuguese; she has Bachelors degrees from Mercer University in International Affairs and another in French. Additionally, Alia has her Masters degree from Boston University in Criminal Justice with a focus in Victimology.