Washington state should not aid the federal government in its goal of mass detention and deportation by providing access to sensitive data to be used for civil immigration enforcement ***when we have laws specifically prohibiting this from happening.***
washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/01/08/i...
Thank you to the Yakima Herald-Republic for helping to spread the word on what community members can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from immigration raids and arrests.
“We need to put issues of light and darkness up alongside issues of nutrition and access to clean air and clean water,” said Lya Osborn, a Seattle-based lighting designer and founding member of the non-profit Light Justice.
Justice for Immigrants, Justice for All!
Gracias por compartir información importante y recursos valiosos para nuestra comunidad! 🙌🏽
We are deeply grateful for your generosity and for standing with our community. Having strong community support during these pivotal times is essential — it’s what allows us to keep doing the work, and it’s vital in the ongoing fight for justice and equity. ✊🏽
Many members of NWIRP's Wenatchee staff wearing matching green shirts stand together in a wooded forest with yellow leaves on the trees.
Our Solidarity Social at Icicle Ridge Winery is coming up next Wednesday, and we’d love for you to join us.
✨We hope you can gather with us as we reaffirm our joint commitment to equity and justice for all.
The event is free, with a suggested donation of $75.
RSVP here ➡ bit.ly/3HH5jn7
Working with non-profits to further civil rights, moderated by Supreme Court Justice Sal Mungia.
Please join us for a CLE July 31 at Seattle U to learn how private sector attorneys can help non-profits further civil rights for people in Washington state. The event is moderated by Justice Sal Mungia.
www.mywsba.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Default.aspx?TabID=1356&productId=26577224
Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said the administration is “adopting a draconian interpretation of the statute” to jail people who may have lived in the U.S. for decades, have no criminal history and have U.S. citizen spouses, children and grandchildren.
Unfortunately, many community members missed their hearings. Missing your immigration court hearing will likely result in a deportation order and increase your risk of being arrested. Please visit NWIRP's Know Your Rights page for more information.
nwirp.org/resources/kyr/
Yesterday, we received a credible report that ICE enforcement officers would be present at the Seattle immigration court. Our team and volunteers quickly mobilized to support community members attending their court hearings. ICE enforcement officers were not present and there were no arrests made.
“A lot of what this administration is doing is attempting to send a message through its arrests [and] through its removals,” he said. “It shouldn’t shock anyone that who they are targeting for arrest is part and parcel of the larger effort to intimidate, exact retribution, and send a message.”
"Aaron Korthuis, an attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, who is representing Juarez Zeferino in the class-action lawsuit, said he did not doubt the activist was a political target."
Last week, we stopped seeing ICE presence at the Seattle immigration court. Unfortunately, it seems that instead of getting the message that we don't want them in our community, they have simply adjusted their tactics.
In the midst of so much terrible news, we are proud that Washington State legislators have passed several new laws to protect immigrant and worker rights in our state. These laws provide more state oversight at the detention center in Tacoma, provide important protections for workers, and more.
NWIRP is proud that it is able to help educate the community about their constitutional rights and the immigration benefits that our laws provide, and is committed to assisting individuals in exercising those legal rights.
NWIRP is proud that it is able to help educate the community about their constitutional rights and the immigration benefits that our laws provide, and is committed to assisting individuals in exercising those legal rights. This is overlaid over the final page of the letter we received, which includes signatures from the Chairman of the Committee as well as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.
We thank all of those who stand with us and support us in defending and advancing the rights of immigrants. This text sits above an image of all our staff gathered in a beautiful meadow with tall pine trees smiling.
It is a sad reflection on our current government that efforts to defend constitutional and statutory rights are labeled as efforts to undermine the federal government.
Our response to a recent oversight letter NWIRP received today from the Committee on Homeland Security written in text overlaid in front of the seal of the United States of America
NWIRP, like many of our partners across the country, received this "oversight" letter yesterday from the Committee of Homeland Security, from the U.S. House of Representatives. This is overlaid over the first page of the letter we received.
![It states that "the Committee is concerned that certain NGOs are now actively advising [undocumented noncitizens] on how to avoid and impede law enforcement officials, which can only be seen as an attempt to undermine the work [of the] federal government." This is overlaid over the second page of the letter we received from the Committee.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ien4rfrrqxxxdfhp6jiayco3/bafkreidcizonwopnswcp745z7estdiazltpscwejrz6upvkmo6bbei4wbq)
It states that "the Committee is concerned that certain NGOs are now actively advising [undocumented noncitizens] on how to avoid and impede law enforcement officials, which can only be seen as an attempt to undermine the work [of the] federal government." This is overlaid over the second page of the letter we received from the Committee.
This is just the latest example of what can only be described as authoritarian efforts to intimidate all those who do not share the administration's anti-immigrant agenda. This is overlaid over the 3rd page of the letter we received from the committee.
Our response to a recent "oversight" letter NWIRP received today from the Committee on Homeland Security.
Thank you to the many community members who reached out to their elected officials and other leaders about this unfair practice. We are back in and ready to continue informing our client communities of our rights!
This restriction has since be rescinded and all our staff and volunteers are again permitted to enter the building and assist the community. If you are volunteering with NWIRP, we ask that you check in on the 4th floor lobby of the immigration court for additional instructions.
This morning, NWIRP staff members and volunteers who have been providing Know Your Rights materials and consultations to community members at the immigration court in Seattle were told they would be restricted from entering without an appointment. Attorneys with appointments were permitted to enter.
While ICE agents can note in their database if someone they’ve investigated turns out to be a citizen, they are not required to do so.
As a result, records are often wrong and left uncorrected even after agents have been told of a mistake.
(Published March 2025)
NWIRP Executive Director Malou Chávez spoke with @msnbc.com about the confusion and fear our communities are experiencing because of the Presidential Administration's many attacks on their due process rights.
www.msnbc.com/chris-jansin...
We are heartbroken to see immigrant communities under attack, again. This new travel ban, despite exceptions, sends a clear message of exclusion, undermines family reunification, and endangers lives.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
These community members are in Djibouti only because DHS violated the terms of a federal district court order requiring DHS to provide them with due process before deporting them to a country that was not listed on their removal orders.
Heartbreaking! Reporting suggests that the facility is currently operating nearly 300 PERCENT above capacity, with 1,700 people crammed into a facility with an official maximum capacity of 600. The conditions have devolved dramatically in the last few months, threatening health and safety.
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments from NWIRP and the State of Washington defending the district court’s finding that the Executive Order is a blatant violation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing U.S. citizenship to all who are born in the United States.
🚨🚨🚨 In the last two hours, the Trump admin:
- Banned all immigrant visas from 19 countries, including Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela
- Banned all student and researcher visas to Harvard
- Colluded with Texas to kick 20,000 undocumented college students off of in-state tuition.
