Hetfield began his career serving as a Russian-speaking HIAS caseworker in Rome, Italy for Soviet Jewish applicants  He later rejoined the agency as its Washington Representative, and again as its Director of International Operations at HIAS Headquarters in New York.  For three years prior to rejoining HIAS in April of 2006, Hetfield was on the staff of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, where he was the Commission’s senior advisor on refugee issues and directed a Congressionally authorized study on the treatment of asylum seekers in Expedited Removal, which was released in February 2005.  Later that year, Hetfield and his study team were awarded the Arthur C. Helton Award for the Advancement of Human Rights for the Study by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.  In addition, Hetfield served for five years in the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington and at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.  He also practiced immigration law while associated with the Washington D.C. office of the law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski.  Hetfield holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) from Georgetown University, from which he also graduated cum laude with a juris doctor degree.