Thank you for your continued support of immigrants and immigrant rights. As you may have heard, the Presidential Administration has deployed ICE officers to more than a dozen U.S. airports this week. As of today, Thursday March 26th, SeaTac airport is not included in the initial list of airports where ICE agents have been deployed. Increased immigration enforcement at airports raises the concern that community members may be targeted for enforcement operations while attempting to travel. Here are some helpful tips to consider if you or a loved one will be traveling by plane in the near future:
- Turn off biometrics on your phone, or power your phone down while going through security lines
- Print a paper boarding pass
- Decline to participate in a biometric/face scan if you are a US citizen
- Take steps to make encrypted chats on apps like Signal or WhatsApp more secure
- Take precaution around the airport, including with those operating as rideshare drivers like Lyft or Uber
- Discuss an emergency plan with your travel group and have emergency contact numbers written down
Supporting Community Members in Immigration Detention
During this difficult time, one of the communities who are most vulnerable are those in immigration detention. Our clients have said that they are suffering from a lack of basic care at the Tacoma facility, and their first-hand reports are backed by ongoing reporting by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights.
In addition to poor conditions, it has become much more difficult for our staff to do our work for a variety of reasons. There are increased wait times to meet with our clients, and there is not nearly enough space at the facility dedicated for meetings to actually take place. But despite these challenges, which we believe are intentional efforts by the department of homeland security to hamper access to due process, our staff and pro bono volunteers are doing everything possible to maintain our access to the more than 1,500 people held at the facility. In order to work around the inadequate space available to meet with clients, we are shifting our visitation hours outside of normal work time, working around the clock to provide the care that our federal government would prefer to deny these community members.
One of the major issues we’ve seen at the detention center is that immigration judges are denying bond to anyone who entered the United States without being admitted. Last year, members of NWIRP’s litigation team filed a class action lawsuit challenging this practice. Our team and partner organizations won that case, yet our local immigration judges have continued to ignore the federal ruling in our favor. So, we have continued to be creative in our pursuit of justice for our clients. We have instead sought the release of our clients through habeas petitions – filing 59 actions since September of last year, representing a total of 279 petitioners, the vast majority of which have been granted either immediate release or a bond hearing.
And while we are grateful for these victories, we can’t ignore that our client’s constitutional right to due process is under daily attack. This administration is waging a war on immigrants and immigrant rights that builds on prior unjust policies and also invents new, ever crueler methods. Violent arrests are no longer uncommon. People who are apprehended by masked immigration officials have no idea where they will be taken or to what country they may be deported. But we will not give up hope. We will continue to fight each day for the people we are proud to represent.
In the midst of this pivotal time, we need your support in order to continue fighting back against injustice. We hope you can also join us in person for NWIRP’s most critical fundraiser of the year: our annual gala at The Westin Seattle on Friday, May 15. Registration is open at nwirp.org/gala, and early bird ticket pricing is available until this Friday, April 3.
Purchase Early Bird Gala Tickets
We hope you can join us for this important event to support our ongoing efforts to defend and advance immigrant rights.
Birthright Citizenship Case Oral Arguments Begin April 1 at the United States Supreme Court
On April 1st, the Supreme Court will consider the validity of the President’s executive order to end birthright citizenship in the United States in the context of a challenge brought by a class of children who would lose citizenship under the order in the case Barbara v. Trump. While the President’s executive order is blatantly unconstitutional, we are hopeful that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling that aligns with the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, which dates back centuries. While the case being considered by the Court is not the same case NWIRP filed last year challenging this unlawful executive order, it is extremely similar to our lawsuit. Our legal director, Matt Adams, has also been providing support to the attorneys working on this case. We are grateful to this community for agreeing that birthright citizenship should continue to be a guaranteed right in the United States.
The Court’s decision confirms that the law requires the agency to comply with basic notions of decency, ensuring that the United States does not deport people to countries where they are likely to be persecuted or tortured. The agency is not entitled to use third country removals as a weapon of intimidation and terror targeting immigrant communities.
Free Immigration Update Webinars and Free Services
For the past 15 months, NWIRP has held monthly immigration update webinars for the community, hosted by members of our legal staff. We are proud to announce that these webinars are now run by NWIRP’s newest unit, our community outreach team. The team has been working diligently to increase our presence and provide community education to immigrants and supporters across Washington State and is bringing their expertise to our monthly series in addition to their work at in person events and training opportunities.
We have a webinar scheduled for this evening, Thursday March 26, at 5pm if you are interested in joining us.
Additionally, we want to remind all our supporters that our immigration services are completely free for our clients, because our communities deserve safe, trusted legal support.
With Gratitude,
Malou Chávez (she/her/ella)
Executive Director
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