On Thursday, May 14, we hosted our 2026 Spring Symposium featuring UWCHR’s Immigrant Rights Observatory research on Pacific Northwest immigration enforcement trends and how communities are responding to today’s heightened enforcement and changing tactics. We heard from an excellent panel of advocates from across Washington and Oregon including: Alyssa Walker Keller, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition

I am honored to have been selected as the Jennifer Caldwell Fellow for 2025. This grant supported me in conducting research for my master’s thesis, which explored the extent to which faith-based support efforts of asylum seekers in Seattle move beyond charity toward more radical forms of solidarity and sanctuary. This project was deeply personal

Over the course of the past several months, I have continued conducting doctoral field research in Peru focused on the cultural, legal, and political dynamics shaping child protection systems and practices of care. This work forms part of my dissertation project examining why Peru continues to rely heavily on institutional forms of child protection despite

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Theresa Rocha Beardall as she joins the next class of William T. Grant Scholars for her work with the Puyallup Tribal Historic Preservation Department (THPD). As part of this project, Dr. Rocha Beardall, alongside a team of UW student researchers, is working under the direction and guidance of the

On March 18, 2026, Professor Angel Gabriel Cabrera Silva, University of Washington Center for Human Rights faculty associate and Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Washington Tacoma, appeared before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to argue in favor of recognizing democracy as a human right with political, social, and economic dimensions.

Today, on International Right to Truth Day, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights is honored to share a new multimedia publication, celebrating the life and legacy of ANDES 21 de Junio union organizer and educator Efraín Arévalo Ibarra, who was disappeared by the government of El Salvador in 1977. “He Couldn’t Close His

Update: This position has been filled. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) invites applications from UW undergraduates interested in forming part of our research team. We are recruiting 1-2 interns to support our work to declassify U.S. government documents related to historic human rights violations in El Salvador and elsewhere in Latin

Summary Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks have become increasingly common in Washington state. Records obtained by UWCHR researchers via public records requests reveal that at least eight Washington state law enforcement agencies enabled direct, 1:1 sharing of their networks with U.S. Border Patrol at some point during 2025; effectively opening the “front