I used the Dr. Lisa Sable Brown Fund to finance a research trip to Washington DC this autumn.  My doctoral research looks at human rights and humanitarianism in North Korea, with a focus on US and South Korean nonprofit organizations (NGOs) working in both fields. While I had gone to Seoul this spring to interview

Introduction In recent years, local and state governments in Washington have taken important legislative and executive action to protect vulnerable residents from rights abuses. Many of these actions, such as the so-called “sanctuary” laws of Keep Washington Working (2019) and Courts Open to All (2020) Acts, seek to protect the rights of migrants by limiting

We sat down with the three student researchers behind “Abuses in the Air” to ask them about their experiences working on this report.  Here’s what they had to say:   Andrea Marcos: Can you tell us how the “Abuses in the Air” report started out? Trevor Helmy: It started with someone reaching out to the

Being a Jennifer Caldwell Fund recipient allowed me to continue working with the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) researching immigration detention. From September 2020 to August 2022, I was part of a team within the UWCHR working on a quantitative social science project seeking to understand the impact of immigration detention capacity

Letter from the Director Lately I’ve been contemplating history as cyclical rather than linear. In part this is because I’ve found myself frustrated by the fits and starts of teaching during Covid-19. (We’re on Zoom! Now we’re in person! Now back on Zoom!) We are all eager to leave the pandemic behind, yet it lingers, transforms, resurfaces.

This summer I worked for Reprieve, a human rights advocacy nonprofit. My role was, in part, financially supported by the Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Endowed Fund for Human Rights through the UW Center for Human Rights. Being a Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Fellow allowed me to engage in work that I believe in,

Starting in spring of 2022 and through the summer, I worked on the Migrant Redress Initiative: Freedom and Dignity project with Alejandra Gonza, Executive Director of Global Rights Advocacy (GRA), in collaboration with La Resistencia. The Redress Initiative is a project that empowers immigrants to reach international justice by bridging the voices of the most

Last week, on September 20, 2022, we filed a lawsuit against DHS and ICE for failure to lawfully respond to FOIA requests. ICE’s stonewalling of our FOIA requests leaves us with no other option but to bring suit against the agency. We bring FOIA litigation because we know that access to information is a human

This spring quarter, the Benjamin Linder Fellowship has allowed me the opportunity to continue the research into the enforcement of the Keep Washington Working (KWW) and Courts Open To All (COTA) acts which UWCHR’s Immigrant Rights Observatory team began conducting in 2019. Their August 2021 report, Protecting Immigrant Rights: Is Washington’s Law Working?, analyzed the

This report is part of a series of research reports by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights examining Immigration and Customs Enforcement Air Operations nationwide.  Download additional resources and one pagers: Haiti: Sports Travel & U.S. Deportation of Haitian Asylum-Seekers Syracuse University & Haitian Deportations Texas Universities & Haitian Deportations Introduction Every week,