By Vanessa Gutierrez, Deputy Director at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP).
Across continents and centuries, people have moved in search of safety, opportunity, and freedom. Yet today migration is portrayed as a crisis or burden, rather than as a universal human right. The widespread anti-immigrant framing of migration today ignores a critical truth: migration is a fundamental human right. The racialized nature of federal immigration laws, policies, and enforcement tactics in the United States must be combatted through a racial justice approach to immigrant rights advocacy.
In Washington State, where diverse immigrant communities form a vital part of the social and economic fabric, the fight for immigrant rights is urgent. Every day people are detained and deported, at times through violation of their constitutionally protected rights to due process.[1]
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), along with partners and allies, is at the frontlines of immigrant justice work. NWIRP advances its mission by offering immigration legal services to people in our communities who cannot afford to hire a private attorney, engaging in systemic advocacy to advance and defend immigrant rights, and by conducting community education to widely share timely and accurate information about the rapidly changing immigration landscape.
[1] American Civil Liberties Union. “Immigrants’ Rights.” ACLU, www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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